


Skyrim X Shingeki no Kyojin

by Noixdepapaye



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-07-29 12:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16264310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noixdepapaye/pseuds/Noixdepapaye
Summary: Skyrim is threatened by dragons that have reappeared recently. Legends tell that the only one who can eradicate them is the Dragonborn, a human who is able to use dragon's powers. But even though everyone hope for him to come, he does not show. Hanji, Erwin and Levi go to loo for him and save Skyrim from the dragons.With (coming) annotations for those who don't know The Elder Scrolls' world.





	1. Foreword

**Our famous story takes place during one of the most unstable periods of all Tamriel history. Still weakened by the Great War against the Third Aldmeri Dominion, thirty years ago, Skyrim was now overwhelmed by a civil war which put Stormcloaks and the Imperial Legion facing and killing each other. Both inside and outside the cities, the civilians fought as well as soldiers, their opinions were always the right opinions, and whether we talked to Markarth or Riften’s people, Ulfric Stormcloak was either a usurper or a saviour. Bards could be killed for having sung the wrong song at the wrong traveller, families tore each other in pieces because of the involvement of one son, and while humans concentrated on earthly matters, they did not look up to see all the dragons who wandered above Skyrim. Back then, no one knew the reason why, but those legendary beasts we all believed extinct had reappeared, they burnt farms and attacked villages, not only hiding in mountains but now flying down on fortresses in meadows and tundras where all a regiment of trained soldiers could not be done with one of those monsters. When, by good fortune, one dragon was killed somewhere, three others appeared somewhere else and spread death and sorrow.**   
**Who does not know this period’s outline? Today, the story of the Last Dragonborn and of the Blades’ resurgence is known as much as Tiber Septim’s life. Mothers tell this tale to their infants, we use proverbs which date back to this time and we cannot count how many books have been published, like epic poems, historical essays or translations. But we, historians and translators from the College of Winterhold, have caught up on the detailed sequence of events thanks to the discovery of a manuscript written and signed by the last Blade Armin Arlelt himself. Being the last surviving witness and actor, he managed to collect private and travel diaries from his comrades, to reveal some private details we never knew up to now, and to redraw the true history in the form of a glorious epic poem. Therefore this publication will aim to complete the knowledge we already had with the work given by Armin Arlelt.**   
**This book does not aim for exhaustiveness. It is not a historical essay, but a revised edition of the story we all already know. However, while until up now we just remembered the principal events of Blades’ adventures, Armin Arlelt’s work will allow us to follow day after day their quest, to know better each of them, to realize their personality, their goal, their doubts, the kind of relation they maintained, and to live with them until they face Alduin, the World Eater. We will alternate between extracts from Arlelt’s work and some commentaries we want to add, when some details can open onto a vaster comprehension of Skyrim during the Fourth Era or of our heroes’ real life.**   
**We have to thank the Greybeards who made this publication possible. For all this five centuries, Armin Arlelt’s work slept as an offering on an old funeral altar, until a small seism from the Throat of the World, one year ago, caused the moving of the ancient relic. The Greybeards discovered it, transcribed it and gave a copy to us as a courtesy. This is through their generosity and their attachment to knowledge and to the Dragonborn and Blades’ memory that we now are able to share this discovery of an inestimable historic value.**   
**As you may know, the College of Winterhold and its students do their best to offer the benefit of knowledge to as many people as possible. However, some deceptive competitors like The Synod or The College of Whispers, without mentioning them, will not hesitate before stealing our work and selling illegal copies. So please be sure to obtain an official copy from our institute.**


	2. Chaptre One : The Day the Dovahkin appeared, and how it changed Armin’s dailylife

                Armin Arlelt chose to start his tale by relating the day all began for him and his adoptive mother, Hanji Zoe: the day that, from the summit of the High Hrothgar, the powerful call of the Greybeards resounded.

 

                “ _This day was an agitated day. Villagers were spreading a rumour which said a dragon had been seen toward the South of Whiterun. Even though we lived in wartime, even though each week we quaked hearing that Stormcloaks were up to no good or that Imperials were going to destroy our Talos’ altar, there was no way we could get used to a constant threat. Moreover, dragons occupied everyone’s mind since one of them had destroyed Helgen, near Falkreath, some days ago. Suddenly, this threat came closer. Suddenly, some soldiers we personally knew had been sent to fight it. We had seen them go, wordlessly wondering if they could slaughter this animal. But we, children, did not share adults’ anguish. We did not realize they could die. I even wonder if we had realized what death meant. We just looked some fathers hug their family, we just saw our parents’ faces, so we understood this was a serious situation. How could we imagine such this issue?_

_There was no school. This was another odd thing. Like if adults suddenly thought there was something more important than our marks. How could they even allow us a free day when they had bored us to tears with school? From all of our ten years of age, this was an incredible event. So we reunited to debate: so, was there really a dragon? How tall could it be? Did it really breathe fire? And we spent hours, perched above benches and rocks, repeating what we heard from our parents, with all the solemnity we children were capable of. More exactly, Eren was repeating what he heard from my mother. She liked to tell us tales, and Eren and Mikasa liked to come to my home the evening, after school, to listen to her. So he tried to narrate like she did, but his dragons were twenty meters taller and his heroes were still fighting while they had lost their arm. So Jean jumped at the chance to mock Eren._

__ You don’t even know to count! How could a dragon be fifty meters large? He would be too heavy to fly!_

__ What about you? Did you already see a dragon? No you don’t, so stop interrupting me!_

_And they began to fight, Reiner tried to stop them, and we kept talking about dragons’ stories until the next argue between Eren and Jean. I don’t think we figured the threat the dragons represented. But talking about it got us excited, because our daily life was broken. It was like a glimpse of what could be the world outside Whiterun’s tundra._

 

                We think it may be a good idea to point out that, among childhood friends Armin speaks about, some will become famous members of the Blades. Our attentive reader may have already recognized Eren Jäger, Mikasa Ackerman and Jean Kirschtein. Elsewhere in his work, when he describes the Witherun daily life, the writer also mentions Sasha Braun and Connie Springer. According to him, they were inseparable and formed a little friendly group that sometimes two other young boys joined, Bertolt Hoover and Reiner Braun. However, they belonged to families which made their support toward Imperial Legion clear, while Armin’s friends sooner grew up beside parents who rather would have chosen the Stormcloaks. The population of Whiterun, even though war had not yet crossed ramparts, could not avoid the conflict between Legion and Stormcloaks. To take an instance, Grisha Jäger, Eren’s father, was a fervent partisan to Ulfric’s camp (Armin will explain below how Grisha’s commitment influenced his son). On the contrary, the Braun’s family was well known for its devotion to Imperial Legion and for its aversion toward Ulfric Stormcloak since the High-King’s murder. War had even reached Whiterun’s civilians. We do not really know what Hanji Zoe’s opinion was. Armin underlines that she did not like to talk about politics, especially in Whiterun where conversation could quickly deteriorate. He writes that his adoptive mother loved humans so much to choose a camp and to condemn the adversaries. As for him, while writing, he seems to have withdrawn from this subject. Do not forget that he wrote his memoirs when he was an old man. He had seen men and women die, seen his friends tear each other apart to know if Tiber Septim was a human or a god. Even though it was back then an essential subject for Nords from Skyrim, he who had not been educated to Talos’cult (in all likelihood Hanji Zoe looked Tiber Septim as a history subject rather than a religious dilemma) was not implicated enough to take side. This is why, without any doubt, he seems so tired while speaking about this war.

                We hope our reader will get how tense this period was. When Karina Braun surprised her son with Eren Jäger, she immediately called back Reiner, rebuked him, humiliated him and took him back at home in front of all the others children. On this point we also have some touching lines from Armin himself, relating his first love, a ten years old boy’s love, toward a young girl of Whiterun, Annie Leonhardt, who belonged to a family supporting Imperial Legion. Seeing Armin was the best friend of Grisha’s son, Annie’s father prohibited his daughter to rub shoulders with him. It seems that this unsettling situation persisted even when they had grown up. But our reader has to keep in mind that behaviour is not the preserve of Imperial partisans. Armin Arlelt also mentions a boy called Flock of their age who even refused to talk to Sasha, Connie and Jean because, even though their families rather supported Stormcloaks, they frequented Reiner and Bertolt. He only approached Eren who shared his outspokenness about Imperial Legion. So even as children, they could not avoid the war subject. Except when came dragon’s subject, because dragons do not have preference between Stormcloaks or Imperials.

 

                _Here we were, entertaining ourselves getting scared, attending at the ritual argues between Jean and Eren, when suddenly, as if it tore space, a powerful, unthinkable shout crossed all the city, taking wind with it. Today, I am an old man. However, this is as if it ran through my mind and let its mark for all my life. I remember perfectly what it sounded like. First, there was an immense thunderclap, an explosion of force, which made the ground shivering. And then, a voice which terrified me back then. A voice which seemed came from another world, which did not even seem human. She said a word no one could have understood. “_ Dovahkin _”._

_It subjugated us. We who had been so dynamic and enthusiast just before, were now ossified, frozen, reduced to silent. It reassured me: I was not the only one to have heard this thing._

__ Who said that? Sasha asked first._

_No one could answer. I looked up toward adults, further away; they were as discomfited as we were. I saw some impressive men from the Companions squeeze their weapons and exchange intimidated looks. Mothers get out of their houses, the soldiers who had stayed hurried toward ramparts and dogs barked without knowing why. We did not even have the time to realize how oppressive the situation was. A second shout, but this time a human’s one, rang out from Whiterun’s door._

__ We slaughtered the dragon! The dragon is dead!_

_There was too many information to integrate. So we stayed frozen for a few second. I remember Eren was the first to move. He always was the first to move. Then Mikasa and Jean followed him. Sasha, Connie, Reiner, Bertolt and I joined them to the door where all Whiterun’s people already agglutinated. This was a soldier covered in sweat and out-of-breath who had yelled. He was getting his breath back while adults were harassing him with questions. How did they kill a dragon? Was he sure the beast would not come back to life? Had some soldiers died? Beside him were Lydia, the housecarl who scared all children, who was keeping people away from the man to let him breath, and Kodlak Whiteman, the Harbinger of the Companions, who gave him some water._

__ Easy, man, calm down and tell us all._

_The soldier started his account._

__ We defeated the dragon half an hour ago. I ran to inform the Jarl. No victim! It’s a great victory! Just some burns, and the watchtower is into ruin. But we did it!_

__ But how?_

__ Was it a tall dragon?_

__ What was the sound we just heard ?_

__ Are you sure it’s dead? We heard a shout!_

__ Yes, the shout was the Greybeard’s call!_

_Silence felt upon us at the soldier’s answer._

__There already were three men fighting the dragon when we arrived! They were strong, the dragon already bleed, rather he was covered in blood, and flied painfully, and the three foreigners kept attacking it, one, a Redguard I think, with arrows and one, a Nord, was a mage and he sent fire rune to the beast, we joined them and shot at the dragon and he finally felt and was lying on the ground, he didn’t move anymore..._

_We all were absorbed in his discourse, no one dared to interrupt him, staring at him with wide opened eyes._

__ Some soldiers approached it to finish it off, and then the dragon stood up straight almost closed its jaw upon one of us, but the third foreigner was here, he pushed the soldier, was between him and the dragon’s fangs, I nearly thought he was dead, and he shouted at the dragon, and it was as if he had spitted out an immense gust, he repulsed the dragon five meters away, I didn’t believe my eyes, and I had not understood what had just happened and the third foreigner already was on the dragon’s head and he slew its skull and the dragon yowled and he felt dead once and for all!_

__ He shouted at the dragon?_

__ Was that what we heard?_

__ Who is this foreigner?_

__ Are you serious?_

__ And then, guys and I were staring at him, we didn’t know what to do, we had a dead dragon in front of us and a bloke who killed dragons by blaring at them, and then suddenly the dragon’s skin began to melt, to dissolve, I don’t know what I just saw but the dragon was disappearing, it seemed that it was inhaled by the stranger, now there’s only the skeleton left and..._

_Everyone was stunned, deafened by the scene, and adults began to whisper some things I did not understand back then, about “consuming a Dragon’s soul”, about the “Greybeards’ call” or about a “Dovahkin”, a word which is today known all round the world, but that we had not heard as children, because Dovahzul was not the language parents used to tell stories to their sons and daughters._

__ So you’re saying that this stranger was a Dovahkin?_

__ You liar! They all died centuries ago!_

__ It had to be a powerful mage, but there’s no way he is a Dovahkin!_

_Voices increased, assaulting the poor soldier, people got nervous, interrupting each other, and then I heard Karina Braun’s voice:_

__ It was a Stormcloak wizard! He shouted at the dragon as Ulfric shouted at our High-King!_

__ Yeah, the Stormcloak certainly found some powerful magic, pursued Olfrid Battle-Born. And they..._

__ Stop telling nonsense, we do not even know if they really were Nords...tried Kodlak._

__ Except for the first who was a Redguard, the two others were blond bearded men, added the soldier._

__ And then? What if it was in fact Stormcloaks? Why are you complaining, since they slaughtered the dragon and saved our city!_

_Next began a hubbub, the war had reappeared and, forgetting the soldier flanked by Lydia and Kodlak, adults quarrelled once again. The crowd became agitated, my friends and I were jostled so they moved aside, and only Mikasa and I stayed to search Eren who had disappeared, probably to confront some Imperial partisans._

_So I saw her. Standing apart from the crowd, moving toward the soldier who had to see the jarl, Hanji stopped near him. She, who was always smiling and enthusiastic, had then a solemn and determined air I did not recognized. Intrigued, I immediately approached._

__ Tell me, she said. What did the man shout?_

_The soldier, and both Lydia and Kodlak, looked at her with surprised eyes._

__ Something like “Fus Ro Dah”..._

_Straight away, losing no time, Hanji was already getting away, toward Whiterun’s gates, without any word. Was she leaving? Where did she go? I immediately wanted to run after her, to ask her all those questions, maybe I did not wanted her to get out from Whiterun’s walls since there were dragons outside. But Lydia preceded me._

__ Might you want me to escort you?_

__ Then follow me now, Lydia. Thank you._

_Some guards opened the gate to her. Lydia, as the Housecarl from Dragonsreach, was already outside, heading for Whiterun Stables. A soldier was giving a cloak and a sword to Hanji when she turned toward me._

__ I will be back soon, Armin. Stay with Eren and Mikasa._

_And then, without letting me ask her anything, she left, disappearing behind the door. I did not know back then, but she galloped toward the Wester Watchtower, toward the Dragonborn._

 

Here we may have to clarify some things about Hanji Zoe and Armin Arlelt’s private life. Many have always heard that Hanji Zoe was one of the high figures of the Blades, beside Erwin Smith and Levi Ackerman. But Armin’s work taught us her adoptive mother was first the last active Blade when the Dragonborn came.

We know summarily her youth, because, from what told his adopted son, even though she was a talkative woman, she rather talked about her works than about her own story. This feature cannot be surprising to us knowing she is famous today for her selflessness. Hanji Zoe was born in a shopkeeper family in Solitude. We know her mother was a Nord while her father was a Breton from High Rock who, during his various mercantile travels, had learned many languages he taught to her daughter, so from her earliest childhood Hanji was bilingual. She grew in the middle of strange merchandise which certainly aroused little Hanji’s curiosity. The average wage of her parents had allowed her to study history; her intelligence and predispositions had made her become a young researcher. She approached every discipline, from history to science, from engineering to arts. She was able to repair or to improve the complex mechanism of a crossbow, for example. We also know she tried to study magic, unsuccessfully, which means she took more from her Nord mother than from her Breton father. Soon she got reference letters from the scholars of Solitude, which allowed her to travel across Skyrim and to visit the libraries of all the major cities of the country. She went to Markarth to study the dunmer ruins, to Winterhold to try learning magic, to Dawnstar to make researches about daedras, and to Solstheim to learn forging. _A priori_ , we estimate that she travelled and studied from fourteen years old to twenty-five years old.

She met the two last Blades around twenty. We do not know the details of their first encounter: Hanji Zoe did not get on well with Delphine and Esbern. Armin explains that she had seen several villages destroyed by dragons, so she wanted to fight them, she had no other motivation than the security of people, this is why she joined and helped the two old Blades. But, if Esbern was interesting and passed down his knowledge about dragons to her _ and we think that Hanji met them by studying dragons _ Delphine was an old woman who, since she got injured in front of the Thalmor, went on about her frustration and her hatred. So, if Hanji had the Blade’s burden, she worked independently and rarely contacted them. Delphine too did not try to use her for mission. It seems that she just wanted a young person to keep the Blades’ memory alive. This is why Delphine lived in Riverwood and Hanji in Whiterun.

She stopped by Whiterun most likely because of the particularity of Dragonsreach, the residence of the jarl. In fact, few people know that the palace of Whiterun had been constructed as a prison for the dragon Numinex. So the city and its history keep a special relation with the dragon’s subject. So Hanji settled in Whiterun, in Breezehome. Her reference letters made the jarl Balgruuf the Greater welcome her and open to her the archives of Dragonsreach. She earned her living by experimenting and selling some potions and alchemy’s essays, and managed to find her place among the habitants of Whiterun.

Shortly afterwards, during a harsh winter, hearing that a dragon had been seen several times near to Riften, she left temporarily her work to travel toward South East. Our reader has to keep in mind that it was a rare thing to see over and over again the same dragon. They were magnificent and powerful beasts, their wingspan could be more than thirty meters, consequently they could appear anywhere in Skyrim just by merely flap its wings. This is why it was a really difficult task to locate one of them. People of Riften had seen many times a dragon flying in the same direction, toward the South. One could easily deduce that the beast had settled in the surrounding area. Besides, the dragon had not shown any sign of aggressiveness. He seemed more interested in the mammoths from Bonestrewn Crest (which is located in the South of Windhelm, this way you can imagine a dragon’s speed in traversing the country’s sky). A dragon not as aggressive as the others, living near a city, was a bargain to Hanji who tried to study them.

Nowadays, in Riften, you still find the Honorhall Orphanage, the eldest orphanage of all Skyrim. It still subsists thanks to the financial aids that Armin set up. But formerly, at the time of the Civil war, it was moth-eaten home for orphans where Armin lived. In his writings, he confesses that he did not remember at all his parents. They died when he was around three years old, trying to study an old dragon’s nest. His grandfather took care of him until he was five years old. Then the old man died ravaged by disease. This is how Armin joined the orphanage of Riften. He was a studious and curious boy, he loved books and early showed he was an intelligent infant. During this unstable period, adoption was a really rare thing, while the war made each day more orphans. Armin did not live long, but he already knew the world would be harsh to him.

The arrival of an expert in dragons from Whiterun certainly had been an event among the children, especially for Armin. His parents had studied dragons too. So he could not help himself but feel attracted by this foreigner.

 

_I was six years old, and yet, even though I barely remember the sound of my grandfather’s voice dead the year just before, I remember perfectly the first time we met. The day she passed the city’s gates, the grey clouds which had threatened Riften’s sky for two weeks had finally broken. It was snowing very hard, we could not see further than ten meters, all Riften was smudged by white. The wind resonated in our ears and the snow freezed us. No one wanted to get out with such a blizzard. However, this was the day she had to arrive. I’ve heard the guards talking about the dragon’s expert they were waiting for. Such an event was more attractive, even though the snowstorm, than waiting inside the orphanage, with Grelod tormenting us and the other children crying or harassing each other. I had found a shelter under the balcony of Bolli’s house, between some barrels, and stayed staring at the gate, muffled in my thin overcoat. I did not know what I would do when I would see her, maybe I was just curious, maybe I hoped to learn more about what my parents had studied, or maybe I unconsciously searched a way to leave the orphanage. It is difficult to be lucid about oneself after so many years._

_I did not know how dangerous it was to stay motionless with the high cold. All the more so as I stayed hidden, where no one could see me. I could have faint and one would have found me dead of exposure. I realise today Hanji’s concern when she found me alone outside during the snowstorm. When she arrived, she brought with her a full horse-drawn carriage of books and instruments. The guards were in bad mood, did not like the idea of waiting for a stranger during the blizzard. They started unloading the luggage, while one of them explained to Hanji that she would stay at Honeyside. This was their voices which alerted me. I sat up straight and looked behind the barrels. It was hard to see them. They were behind a snow curtain, I just distinguished their contours. But I did not dare to get close, impressed by the presence of the guards and by their hoarse voices. So I stayed behind my barrels, shivering, and the runny nose._

_I do not know how, but she saw me. Despite the snow, despite the barrels, despite my will to stay hidden, she saw my shape. She remained looking toward my direction, so I took fright and bent down. For a moment I held my breath, praying that she had not seen me. I listened carefully, hearing only the guards’ voices. I tried to silently run away, crawling on all fours, to disappear behind Bolli’s house, when suddenly, I felt myself lifted by the hood._

__ Hey, kid! Don’t you think it’s too cold to play outside, today?_

_She made me stand up on my feet, and for the first time we discover each other’s face. I remember the first thing which struck me was her glasses and the wide curious and jovial eyes behind them._

(We may have to remind our reader that glasses were not as common as today. Considering the low optical knowledge available at this time and the extremely meticulous work that requires the manufacture of glasses, only the scholars could own a pair of spectacles, which usually were breakable, not this efficient and could easily make the one who wore them seem to be an original.)

 

_She smiled to me. She looked down at my get-up and my red nose, noticed that I was freezing, while I was only wondering what that pair of windows was on her own nose. She seemed concerned by my state, when I totally was impressed by this adult woman._

__ What’s your name, little boy?_

_She let my hood and ran her hand on my freezing cheek. Despite the snow, she had a warm hand, and even now, when I remember how her contact warmed my skin up, this memory warms my heart. Orphans do not get often this kind of sign of affection. The adults who like them, by force of habit, show only indifference. But those who see the orphans only like loads do not fail to make their disdain felt. And here was this stranger who cared about me:_

__You’re freezing! How long did you stay here? Why aren’t you at home?_

_I still was silent. I was not the kind of extrovert child. Constance Michel, our headmistress at the orphanage, always complained that she did not even know the sound of my voice._

__ You don’t want to tell me your name, at least? Mine’s Hanji Zoe. I’m new here, so I will need a guide in Riften!_

_Even now, I still wonder if she asked me this on purpose. It was the perfect way to make me talk._

__ Do you need help? I asked. I know a lot of things about Riften!_

__ Do you? It would be perfect! I just come from Whiterun, so I’m totally lost, here! Do you know Whiterun?_

__ I know where it is on a map!_

_The pride in my answer made her laugh. She really had a beautiful warm voice. This is maybe what I still miss the most today._

__ So you know it’s far away from here! Will you help me?_

__ I will!_

_She surely knew how to reassure children. Then she took off her overcoat and placed it on my shoulders. It was thick and heavy, but it still was warm from Hanji’s body._

__ Can I ask you to help us? She requested. We are unloading my luggage. Could you carry my coat to Honeyside for me, please?_

_This is how she managed to cover me up while giving me the feeling of being useful. I followed her and the guards to Honeyside, making sure that her overcoat did not touch the snow-covered ground. I certainly cut a fine figure, in my too large coat, with wide strides to not step on the points I could not lift, behind the impressing guards of Riften, who had a case in each arm, and who surely looked at me with intrigued eyes._

_At Honeyside, Hanji declined the proposition of the guards who asked her, out of courtesy, if she needed help to unwrap her luggage. She thanked them, told them to advert the jarl that she would come the earliest possible. They left us. I was waiting alone, silent, in her overcoat, not daring to move. She crouched in front of me, thanked me for my help and took off the coat. She ran her hand in my forehead to check my temperature. I guess I still was cold, so she got a cloth out of her luggage and held it out to me._

__ Take this. It’s for thanking you for your service._

_She was so attentive, how could not an orphan like me already adore her?_

__ I have to work today, but maybe next time I will need someone to guide me in Riften?_

__ When? I asked, in hurry to see her again._

__ I don’t know yet, so tell me, where can I find you?_

_Her face darkened when I said I lived in Honorall Orphanage. But I guess that, seeing I did not speak with a sad voice, she managed to not pity in front of me. She immediately tried to change the subject._

__ And who will I have to ask for?_

__ My name’s Armin Arlelt._

__ It’s a lovely name!_

__ My mother gave it to me. She and my father studied dragons, like you!_

__ Really? So you must know a lot of thing about dragons! Maybe I will need to ask you some advice, soon?_

_We stayed and talk again until her meeting with the jarl made her hurry. She thanked me again, wrapped clumsily the cloth around me and offered me a last smile. Then I had to go back to the orphanage, where I made sure to warm me up beside the chimney as I had promised to her. When Grelod saw me, the afternoon, she scolded me and forbade me from going out again. So the evening, I fell asleep with the picture of the woman who would soon become my adoptive mother._

_The first day, Hanji and some guards, despite the snow, left for an investigation. They went early in the morning, so I did not see them. I waited for them all the day. They came back late in the night, when I had already felt asleep in the orphanage. They started it again the next day. I missed them once again. So I decided to stay awake late the following evening. But, investigating all around Riften, they got away more and more each time, so as soon as the third day, they already intended to set up camp outside the city. Two days later, some guards came back, but only to refuel, and without Hanji. They left straight away. According to them, they had to search the dragon even more in the South. So they were not going to return soon. And I waited. Again and again. Days passed one by one, long, empty, cold. Once again I was alone. Others children thought I was odder than usual. Adults stared at me with weariness and annoyance. Here was again the little weird orphan._

_On Hanji’s side, they did not make any headway. First they had walked toward the South. Farmers told them that in the surroundings, some flocks of cows had been thrown into panic and had fled away without explications at first sight. Then they discovered some burned zones where the beasts should have been grazing, and on the fur of some cows they had found again, they remarked superficial burns. There was no doubt that the beasts had been attacked by a dragon. So during the first weeks, they followed the attacks. But then, things complicated. The winter approached, so farmers soon kept their flocks in their granges. Without cows, there was no attack anymore. And without attack, they could not locate the dragon. Moreover, if the dragon could not feed itself, it totally could be more aggressive toward the guards. For their part, the men were more and more embittered. They felt like they went round and round in circles ; they were hungry, and the supply of provisions were more difficult with each day they got away from Riften ; the anguish of coming closer to a dragon did not ease the tension. After three weeks of trailing, when they reached the mountain chain of the Rift, which is the last border before Cyrodill, they began to meet a series of wrong tracks. They scaled to the South during a week. Then they realised they had deviated to South West, so they had to retrace their steps for five days. When they went to the right way, they thought that they had not enough supply, but bandits were prowling around, so it was too dangerous to let a small group back to Riften alone. They had to divide in two equal groups, so while ones made their way to Riften, others had no choice but to wait for them. Once everyone had got together, they tried to scale once again the mountains. But this time, weather got involved in. Winter had come, mountains were more dangerous, camping was more difficult and men were more irascible. To crown it all, the dragon did not even show up. It seemed that it mocked the searchers. They did not find any print where they should have. They heard rumours which said that the beast had been seen far more to the West. There was no farmer anymore lamenting about a disappeared cow. The map did not have consistency anymore. There was no way to track the dragon or to locate its nest. The expedition seemed to be a failure._

_Hanji was frustrated. First because the expedition did not work like she had thought it would. The sudden discretion of the dragon was something hard to predict, and the incoherence of the appearances, something hard to explain. She could not understand how one dragon could change its habits this way. She first thought it was a second beast, but it seemed to her so unrealistic she did not want to believe it. And most importantly, she did not dare to share this hypothesis. This was her second frustration. Among all those soldiers, she could not freely talk about all she got from this expedition. Yet she had a lot to say: even though she did not find the dragon, the prints they discovered were enough to her to make progress. Thus all the disappeared cows while winter was coming made her think that the dragon could get ready for the new season. If she was correct, it meant that the dragon did not kill by aggressiveness, but by necessity. The dragon, a creature myths had always considered as immortal and divine, could need to eat for its subsistence. It signified even more: the dragons suffered time as mortals did, while old writings assured that Akatosh had given birth to them with using the material of time itself. Actually, this expedition was a first, because it allowed Hanji to study dragons as an organic animal. She had been so excited to set it up between the two jarls of Riften and Whiterun, but she soon was the only one to enjoy, and this expedition finally did not turn out well._

_I was waiting for her for one month, wondering if she had forgot me and if I was ridiculous to have became attached to a perfect stranger, when, at the end of a dry-cold day, they all finally came back. Weather turned out to be more and more threatening, the guards were tired and Hanji had felt that she abused their patience. So, with a heavy heart, she took the decision to end the expedition. And she did well, because two days later a violent snowstorm struck the Rift._

_The first evening, Hanji did not get out of Honeyside. She surely was dwelling on the failure of her expedition. For my part, I really was happy to see them finally back, but I had seen her gloomy face and heard about the results, so I did not dare to approach her, and even less to knock at Honeyside’s doors. So, ripped apart between the frustration to not talk to her and the fear to actually talk to her, I went back to the orphanage. I really thought that I could not see once again the smile I had discover one month ago._

_But Hanji was someone really unpredictable. The next morning, I got out from Honorall and saw her on the market place. She was shopping for food, with so much energy that no one could have guessed she was so depressed the day before. She saw me too. She waved at me with a large smile, and without any doubt, maybe for the first time since she arrived, I ran toward her. She asked me to guide her through Riften as I had promised it to her. So I did, we spent our morning together, striding along the little streets of Riften, retracing our steps because the city was not large, and talking again and again. I think it was the first time in all my young life I talked so much. And this was natural. I felt nice with her. She did not treat me as a poor orphan who deserved pity, but as a normal kid. We even played in the snow, something no one ever had done for me._

_The jarl had invited her to have lunch, so she let me but told me I could visit her whenever I wanted. That was what I needed. When I saw her getting out from Mistveil Keep, the jarl’s palace, I immediately ran toward her, without knowing I was making us nearly alienated to each other._

_Winter came. Winter is harsh to Riften. Some days it snowed so much no one risked themself outside. But I woke up early in the morning, got myself dressed and hurried to Honeyside, sometime with another child from the orphan. Hanji waited for me. And we spent all the day speaking, playing, and laughing. She soon knew my parents were dragon searchers, she pressed her lips when I spoke about their death, and she tried to ask me more pleasant things: “Was your mother beautiful?”; “Did she know some good history?”; “Do you look like your father?”. She made me talk about them as if they were still alive, and it was more agreeable for an orphanage. I learnt to her some card games my grandfather and I had played months ago. I think I did not explain clearly, because I always wan and she did not even realize she had lost. Then I asked her about dragons. And she became unstoppable. She shared her frustrated hypothesis to me. She showed to me all her most beautiful books about the subject. I could more or less read, my grandfather had been a good teacher. Hanji really was impressed that I could decipher her books even though I was six years old. She rectified me sometimes, attentive and careful._

__ And can you write ? She asked me one day._

_I could not, and Grelod did not teach it to us. Hanji was incensed when I revealed it to her. She promised me she would. So we spent each morning during this blessed winter to have writing lessons._

_She was sweet, she was kind to me. I knew she liked me, and I liked her. I applied myself to learn how to write, because it made her proud of me, and because soon I realised it would open a new horizon to me. So I slowly traced my letters, making the most beautiful loops, and then I looked at her, and sometimes I surprised her darkened eyes._

__ What’s up, Hanji?_

_And then she assured me she was fine. So I trusted her and then showed my achievement._

_Other times, I was the one who troubled her by asking too innocent questions._

__ When spring comes, will you go back to search the dragon?_

__ Unfortunately, the jarl did not like to be deprived of his guards. He asked me to not prepare a new expedition without having located the dragon, but how does he want me to locate it without expedition, this idiot?_

__ So you will stay with me?_

__ Armin... I don’t own Honeyside... I can’t stay and abuse the jarl’s hospitality..._

__ But you just said he is an idiot._

__ No I didn’t, and even if I would have, he gave me a shelter anyway._

__ So you will go back to Whiterun?_

_I asked this, fearing her departure above all, without thinking how hard it had to be for her. Or maybe I did. Maybe I was expecting to convince her not to leave. I just remember how it was terrifying to figure she could go back and let me. She had changed my daily life. I could not bear the idea of going back to Grelod’s injuries without Hanji to confort me the next day._

_It is odd to think about how our happiest phases are always the shortest. This winter was rude, but it did not last so long. When spring appeared, making the journey to Whiterun safer, it was already time for Hanji to leave. The morning, while I practiced my writing skill, I looked at her cleaning Honeyside and putting all her stuff in the cases she had just finished emptying three weeks ago. She had not already fixed the day of her leaving, but she knew she would not stay to Riften for long. She felt like she was abusing the jarl’s goodness, no one would help her to track the dragon anymore and her workshop in Whiterun needed to reopen. So she silently and slowly packed her bags, avoiding eye’s contact with me, while her looking at me was all I searched._

__ Hanji, is my text right?_

_So she came and checked over my shoulders my copy. She soon tousled my hairs, underlined some mistakes but congratulated me._

__ You really are a smart boy, Armin! Soon you will know everything without needing my checking._

__ So do I know how to write?_

__ Sure! There’s still things you have to work on, but it will be easy to you._

__ Grelod doesn’t learn us to write._

_I saw her closing her eyes. I did not know I was hurting her, twisting the knife in the wound. Today, I know that, for weeks, she had been wondering if she should adopt me. She surely knew that letting me in Honorall was promising me to a sad and lugubrious life. She loved me, she liked how I was a quick-learner and how her lessons would help me in my future, and she did not bear the idea to abandon me. Truly, I think that she seriously planed to adopt me a long time before I noted her worry. The only thing that scarred her was herself. We do not figure that Hanji Zoe, one of the three pillars of the Blade’s resurgence, really lacked of self-confidence. She was smart. She knew how to analyse a situation and quickly make the right decision. But when things became most personal, when she had not to make a logical calculation but a choice which implicated her other qualities, she really felt like she necessarily made the wrong choice. Levi, Moblit and I really tried to make her understand she was an incredible human being, but not only she depreciated herself, but she also was a stubborn woman. So adopting me meant becoming my mother, and Hanji did not think she could be a good mother. This is why she has always insisted that I call her by her name instead of “Mum”. Taking me with her was allowing me a better life, this is what convinced her, but anyway it made her quake. She forced herself to overcome her highest fears to save me from my destiny, and even though she’s gone now, even when my turn comes to leave this world, I will never cease thanking her._

_I did not understand why she did not tell me the date of her departure, but I did not know it was because she secretly was regulating the terms of my adoption with Honorall orphanage. One day, one sunny day, I came to Honeyside and settled at the table to begin my lesson._

__ What do I write, today, Hanji?_

__ I’m gonna spell something out, letter by letter, okay? So let’s begin!_

_So she made me write the message which changed my life._

_Y, o, u, c, o, m, e, w, i, t, h, m, e._

_Or at least, until the second “m”, cause I understood, let the quill fall and jumped in Hanji’s arm. I snuggled up against her, while she laughed, and did not let her go for the happiest minutes in all my childhood._

_This is how, one week after, Hanji made me sit on the carriage which contained our luggage, and while I waved to children and guards of Riften, she took the reins and drove us to our new life in Whiterun, where I would meet Eren and Mikasa and, for the first time since I was born, where I would really blossom._

We did not resist the pleasure to share with our dear reader these tender lines from Armin, which make us understand the strong bonds which linked him to his adoptive mother. At the same time, you can know better who really was Hanji Zoe, how she was devoted to the other, and why she left this way Whiterun after the Greybeards’ call.

We take responsibility for this analepse which came at the climax, and we underline that it is a literary device which comes from our rascal friends from the Bards College. Now our reader might want to know what Hanji and Lydia found in the Western Watchtower. We should take back the previous extract from Armin’s work, about this day the Greybeards’ voice resonated.

 

_Lydia was the Housecarl of Whiterun. Balgruuf the Greater gave her this title so she had to protect the city and its residents. So when she saw Hanji hurrying toward the Western Watchtower, she did not hesitate, got out from the ramparts, borrowed two horses from the stable, and then Hanji and her were riding toward the place where had died the dragon. She did well, because Hanji was leaving without any weapon, when the country was tore apart by a civil war and attacked by giant lizards who breathed fire. And I have to add that she totally was unable to generate the slightest magic._

_When we, children, did not even know what the word “Dovahkin” meant, for Hanji, as a Blade, it was the turning point she, Delphine and Esbern had waited to fight against the dragons. The appearance of a Dragonborn suddenly gave back to the Blade’s existence a meaning, a goal. Because the Dragonborn is the only one who can kill a dragon. Everyone, with every weapon, could kill a dragon’s body. But it would come alive again later. A Dragonborn does not only kill the sheath of the dragon. He inhales, he devours its soul. Consequently, without a Dragonborn to follow and to help, the Blades, by killing a dragon’s body, just flog a dead horse. Without knowing this, we cannot understand how primordial it was to Hanji to find the Dovahkin._

_And how hard it was to not find him to the Western Watchtower. Hanji and Lydia had galloped, but they reached the Watchtower too late. The guards were staring, struck dumb, at the dragon’s skeleton, the tower was still smoking after a blaze, and nowhere there were the three men the soldier had talked about. Hanji called Irileth, the personal housecarl of Balgruuf._

__Everyone’s alright? she asked hastily. Where is the man who killed the dragon?_

_Irileth stared at her with the Dunmer’s severity._

__ Gone nearly one hour ago. They followed the eastern road, but they did not say where they went._

__ Did they have horses?_

__ Yes._

__Fuck!_

_Hanji pulled the reins to turn around and gallop, while Lydia, who had just ridden down, climbed back up hastily to follow her._

_The Whiterun’s tundra is large, and the eastern road could lead to Riften on the South East, just as well to Windhelm, in the East, or to Falkreath in the South. Hanji and Lydia first thought the Dragonborn would go to the High Hrothgar to answer the Greybeard’s call. So they rode during hours until they reached the Valtheim Towers. Here Hanji paid some robbers who had instituted a toll to know if they had seen three men, two Nords and a Redguard. They did not. So the women turned back. They went back to Whiterun’s tundra and followed the road toward Falkreath. The sun was going down when they reached Riverwood. Hanji did not want to spend time in this village where she could meet Delphine, so she just asked the guards if they had seen the three men she searched. They did not. The women galloped back to the tundra. The horses were tired, Lydia was ungry, she thought they already had lost the men, but Hanji did not give up. Did the Dragonborn and his two friends head towards North? The night had set up, and Hanji and Lydia made for the Whitewatch Tower, and around midnight, they could ask the soldiers if they had seen their men. They did not. Hanji was literally boiling over, furious that she had let the Dovahkin disappear. Then she thought that the guard who had let them know about the dragon’s death, the morning, had to take the eastern road to join Whiterun, so the Dragonborn and his two mates, riding horses, had surely overtaken him. So they went back to Whiterun, it was two in the morning, and Hanji let Lydia give back the horse to the stable, ran toward the quarters of the guards, woke up nearly all of them to find the one she had talked to in the morning. He had to have seen where the Dragonborn went. But he had not._

_The Dragonborn had disappeared. He surely had cut across the fields, and if he had not followed the roads, there was no chance to find him this way._

_This night, Hanji came back to Breezehome tired, weary, and mad against herself. Nanaba, her best friend and one of the most famous Companions, seeing that Hanji did not come back, had put me to bed and was waiting for her in the living room, in front of the fire. But I did not sleep, wondering where Hanji could be. This was a relief when I heard her come in. I got out of bed to welcome her, I had a mountain of questions to ask her, but she took me in her arm, kissed me on the forehead and promised me she would talk to me the next morning._

__ But for now, you must sleep. Okay?_

_And it was hard to not yawn, so she sent me back to bed and tucked me in._

__ Good night, Armin, and sorry for having worried you._

__ Good night, Momji!_

_She left the bedroom and closed the door behind her. But I immediately get out from the bed, walked on tiptoe toward the door and sat down to listen. There was a moment of silent, Hanji seemed to sit down beside Nanaba._

__ Thank you, Nan’, he would have stayed up all the night without you._

__ Don’t mention it. Instead, I hope you have thanked Lydia._

__ ... Oh, fuck..._

_It made Nanaba laugh. She always was the one to remind Hanji her own obligation. She was like an older sister to her and an auntie to me. She said:_

__ Never mind, you will thank her tomorrow. So?_

_Hanji sighed._

__ So he hasn’t let any print. I think he left the road to not have to meet the Valtheim Towers. But then I still have the entirely East side of Skyrim. From Winterhold to Riften, including Windhelm. The most peaceful region, of course..._

_She paused. Nanaba did not say anything. And I was holding my breath. She just spoke about leaving for the region where Ulric Stormcloak was hunting everyone who did not support his cause._

__ If I have chance, the Dragonborn will go to the High Hrothgar and I will just have to find him there. If not, I just get myself ready to look for a needle in a haystack._

__ Delphine has a intelligence network through all Skyrim, answered Nanaba. She will help you._

__ I guess you’re right. And I hope you are, it could avoid me months of searching. But they were three travellers, they had horses, they were on the way to something when they met the dragon. Who can say they will interrupt their plans to go to the High Hrothgar? If they wanted to join the Stormcloaks, and this is really probable these days, it will be hard to hear about them before they slaughter some Imperials. And when they become some kind of war hero, how will I tell them to help us to fight dragons? Will Ulfric even let them leave him?_

__ You’re looking too far to the future, Hanji..._

_Hanji had a little, sad laugh. Then she stayed silent, and Nanaba had to kept talking._

__ For now, what do you have to do?_

__ There’s a little village, at the foot of the High Hrothgar, Ivarstead. Tomorrow, I will ride toward Ivarstead. There I will be able to begin my search._

__ I’ll go with you._

__ No, please, don’t, Nan’, I need you here to take care of Armin._

__ You’re not going to ride alone when there are dragons, Stormcloaks and Imperials outside there. And I think that Lydia will not follow you, you already abused her generosity today. She shouldn’t follow anyone but a thane. Just let Armin with Mikasa’s or Eren’s parents. Anyway, you will not be gone for long, will you? Two, three weeks?_

_Hanji did not answer straightaway. I knew she worried about me. And I worried about her, but hearing that Nanaba would go with her was some kind of comfort. And I think my childish head already looked forward to stay for two weeks with Eren and Mikasa._

__ I haven’t done anything to deserve you, Nanaba._

__ Don’t be an idiot. You look tired. You should go to sleep. You will have to talk to Armin tomorrow, and then to make your luggage. The Dragonborn does not wait._

__ Yes, Hanji said standing up, this is the problem._

_Then Nanaba left Breezehome. Hanji extinguished the fire, and then went to her bedroom. The house turned into silent, after that._

_I knew Hanji belonged to the Blade. She had talked to me about her duty to fight the dragons when we met in Riften. She just asked me to keep it secret. The old Blade’s members were wanted by the Thalmor, so it was not something to shout from the rooftops. So this day, I was not surprised to see Hanji leave Whiterun, only a bit sadden and nervous. But Nanaba went with her. And Nanaba, as everyone in The Circle of the Companions, was unbeatable._

_The next day, Hanji asked Carla Jaeger to take care of me. Eren’s mother was a kind woman, and she received me with open arms. And Eren already planed how we could spend our evening, by training ourselves to slaughter some fictional dragons. The fact I was going to spend all my days with my best friend softened Hanji’s departure._

_Nevertheless, she felt guilty to leave me. She hugged me and kissed me and promised she would bring me something from Ivarstead._

__ I will be back soon, I promise!_

__ I trust you, Hanji, I answered hugging her back._

_Nanaba had saluted her Companions’ brothers and was waiting for Hanji with two horses. Hanji gave me a last hug, and then turned back and joined her friend. They got out from the rampart, and then, Eren, Mikasa and I ran to the wall walk to wave at her while they got away from Whiterun._

_This is how began the Blades’ resurgence. Hanji and Nanaba rode toward Ivarstead, without knowing they were going to meet someone who would become the next high pillar of the Blades. They rode toward the Commander of the Dawnguard, Erwin Smith._


	3. Erwin Smith, from the Dawnguard to the Blades

 

                               The Skyrim from the Fourth Era seems pretty distant to us, because we are not aware of the extent of the issue about Tiber Septim’s presumed deity, and because our sky is today deprived of flying dragons. The Imperials and the Stormcloaks belong to our past, and the giant flying lizards to our mythology, while they were daily subjects at this time. This is maybe the highest difficulty we must overcome to truly understand this era. We, who can more or less eat when we have to, and whose political context is, from time to time, sprinkled with some diplomatic conflicts for a border between Morrowind and Skyrim, are totally enable to figure a daily life when we literally would rub shoulders with death. Was there at least some sunny days, in Skyrim? Did the Nords know something else beside snow and war? Was a day without new problems even thinkable?

Our reader will forgive us this introduction somewhat melodramatic. We chose to exaggerate obviously from the start so you will accept easily what comes next. Actually, the Nords did not have only to fear dragons and war. A third curse, not as famous but as devastating and pretty romanticised today, was vampirism. This could give rise to smiles. We all have in mind these stories about paradoxical seductive orsimer vampire who sets a trap for a candid pretty young altmer. This kind of fiction, which brings the house down among the female readership today, does not say that there was a time vampirism was a real calamity for Skyrim’s resident, besides the dragons and the war. This is why, before giving our dear reader the tale of the meet between Hanji and Erwin, we have chosen to recapitulate what vampirism was and what it implicated for Nords from Skyrim.

What do we know about vampirism’s origins? Scientifically, almost nothing. We have just some old tales with unknown sources, which as usual allege as vampirism’s birth a pact with a daedra, which would date back to even before the Empire. Whatever it is, vampirism was a reality. It seems it was a kind of contagious disease, Sanguinare Vampiris, which was spread by bites or spells from infected individuals. After an incubation period (around three days) in which the new infected subject bore less and less the sunlight and experienced an insatiable hunger, the infection turns into full vampirism. Apparently, a vampire could resist to diseases, poisons, could sneak more efficiently during the night, but was vulnerable at sunlight. Of course, they drank human blood, this is something all the actual tales remember, and had hypnotic powers. Finally and above all, a vampire was told being immortal; or at least, a vampire did not get old. This is the most enigmatic aspect of Sanguinare Vampiris, and the part that makes us regret that a brilliant mind as Hanji’s or Armin’s one preferred to study dragons instead of vampires. How can a disease, that it seems we contract by organic ways, which we cures by organic potions, dispense a human from his organic, mortal finite condition? Here is the reason every scientific committee look vampirism with suspicious eyes today.

Our reader must understand us. We do not doubt the existence of vampirism. Recognised victims are too many to even think of denying it. We just contemplate the extent of our ignorance about this horrifying disease. And we use the word “horrifying” because it led people to extreme cases, as you will see when we will broach the Hroggar’s case that Levi Ackerman, Isabel Magnolia and Farlan Church met in Morthal. To sum up, vampirism could mean cannibalism, slavery and manipulation. From one day to the next, a good father could turn into a bloody monster and kill and eat all his family. The most loyal soldier could be hypnotised to commit atrocities toward his master. We know some cases of groups of vampires who farmed and bred humans as cattle to have available blood. All these crimes were all the more frightening because people were totally defenceless. In war, we can support a camp. A dragon can be located. But a vampire looked like everyone and could invest our mind. It was not the most spectacular but the most vicious of all the dangers the Nords had to live with.

Here intervenes the Dawnguard. Nowadays, almost no one remembers what the Dawnguard was, except some historians from the Rift. We have to admit that, without Erwin Smith’s involvement in the Dragonborn quest, his faction would have been totally forgotten, because Armin’s work is the only source we still have. Considering that, even in his time, knowledge about Dawnguard’s history was gappy, the grey areas will certainly never clear up.

The Dawnguard was an ancient order of vampire hunters, which apparently dated back to the Second Era. The legend says that it was created by a Jarl of Riften, to keep his son after the contraction of vampirism. Several versions of Dawnguard’s genesis exist: some tell that they turned into vampires by pride, others that they were only mercenaries who abused of power, or that they finally killed the Jarl’s son, so they were banished and purchased. But almost all versions agree that the Dawnguard disappeared during centuries, unlike vampirism.

During the Fourth Era, vampirism increased spectacularly. No one can explain why. Maybe fate does not like leaving something half-done and estimated that Thalmor, war and dragons were not enough for Nords of Skyrim. Whatever it is, facing this plague increasing, shortly after the victory of the Third Aldmeri Dominion, a Vigilant of Stendarr named Isran left the nomad warrior-priest to reform the Dawnstar. He distributed a recruitment notice through all Skyrim to raise a new faction of vampire hunters. It seems that he succeeded relatively well considering the limited means of communication he could use. Soon, after some years of elaboration, Fort Dawnguard, in the Dayspring Canyon, was joined by young people who knew the danger vampirism represented. And among these new recruits was Erwin Smith.

 

 Who was Erwin Smith? In his works, Armin seems fascinated and heads praise on the Dawnguard commander. And considering how Hanji Zoe and Levi Ackerman too chose to follow him, how Hanji chose to entrust Blades’ destiny to him, we can guess he was an exceptional and charismatic leader. Also all the documents and records about him are laudatory. This is why today we all think of Erwin Smith as the model of war leader and of strategist. But let’s have a deeper look: Armin’s work gave us a better knowledge of who the man Erwin Smith was.

Erwin Smith was born in Falkreath, one of the major cities of Skyrim at this time. We think his birth and childhood place is a pretty important and tell-tale fact. Falkreath is near from the borders of Hammerfell and Cyrodiil, and, during the Merethic Era, belonged to the Colovian Estate, an organized kingdom in which Cyrodiil’s and Skyrim’s cultures met. So the Nordic identity was less pronounced than in other cities like Windhelm, which explains that Erwin did not decide to support either General Tullius or Ulfric Stormcloak. Our attentive reader could think this is paradoxical, because Falkreath is the place of the largest and most famous burial site. Indeed, many famous heroic Nords requested to be buried in this place of many past battles. Moreover, Falkreath’s history is linked to Tiber Septim’s one. He had helped the old king of Falkreath, Cuhlecain, to unify the Colovian Estates, when he just was Hjalti Early-Beard. This is why the cult of Talos was really present in this region during the Fourth Era. The Falkreath’s habitant were the most likely to see Tiber Septim as a divinity. They neighboured the high Nords’ graves. So they should have risen against the Thalmor, and Erwin should have supported the Stormcloaks.

Urag gro-Shub, the Orsimer mage and librarian who kept, at this time, our beautiful Arcaneum, wrote an essay entitled _The weight of History : how Falkreath’s past influenced its present during the Civil war_ , and we mention his work, not by pride of our predecessor, but because his thesis really clarifies the philosophy of this city. The ones who never came to Falkreath and never saw the Graveyard cannot realise the state of mind of the residents, who woke up each morning to the sight of hundreds of sepulchres. Theses tombs are rather a continual memento mori than a Nord flag. When one rubs shoulders with death every day, it is a way to learn the real price of life and the humility of our mortal condition. Falkreath’s Graveyard is a life lesson about dignity and wisdom, as shown by establishment’s names in the city. The inn was called the _Dead Man’s Drink_ , the lumber mill _Deadwood Lumber Mill_ , the alchemist had a store she had named _The Grave Concoctions_ , and the priest of Arkay lived in a house called _Hall of the Dead_.

And who was the priest of Arkay? He was Erwin’s father. Erwin lost his mother when he was a young child. His father, deeply affected by his wife’s passing, chose to follow his own father’s and brother’s vocation and put on the Arkay’s clothes. Our reader may not know what Arkay’s cult was. To be brief about a subject that could fill a whole library, Arkay was known as the God of the Cycle of Birth and Death. His cult’s philosophy was to respect and to protect this cycle. Erwin’s father followed these guidelines and taught it to his son. From what Erwin said about his father, he was a man of rectitude and rightness. There is no doubt he had a considerable influence over his son. And we believed a long while that Erwin joined the Dawnguard because vampirism, that stops the ageing process and breaks the cycle his father venerated.

He was seventeen years old when he left his father and Falkreath to join the vampire hunters. And he was thirty-one years old when he met Hanji and Nanaba, while he was at the head of the Dawnguard for four years. It means that in around ten years, he distinguished himself enough to hold a high place in the hierarchy and to replace Isran when he died, murdered by a vampire. From his start, he was helped by his old friend Nile Dork, who also came from Falkreath, and then joined by Mike Zacharius. They were the three leaders of the Dawnguard when came this day he met Hanji Zoe, looking for the Dragonborn.

 

We advice our dear reader to keep an old Skyrim’s map within easy reach to better understand the road Hanji and Nanaba followed. They rode from Whiterun toward Ivarstead, so they had to follow the eastern road Hanji and Lydia had begun to follow the day before. Luckily, this journey really is documented: Hanji filled a log and sent regularly letters to Armin, this is why he was able to relate the detailed travel the women followed.

 

_Hanji and Nanaba were about to leave the Whiterun’s tundra riding toward the Valtheim Towers, when a call rose from behind them. They stopped their horses and looked back at an envoy who was running after them._

__ We did well to stay at walk’s pace. Here’s Delphine’s messenger, as you thought, Nanaba said._

__ Yeah... Hanji answered, absent-minded._

_The rumours about a probable Dovahkin’s appearance already spread through Whiterun’s surroundings and Delphine, from Riverwood, had already taken initiatives. The messenger reached them and, breathless, sweating, he looked at Hanji._

__ I’ve been looking for you. Got something I’m supposed to deliver your hands only. Let’s see here, he said, searching through his knapsack. I have a letter here from Delphine in Riverwood. She said it was urgent._

_He held a parchment out to Hanji, who unsealed it with a muted acknowledgement._

__ Looks like that’s it. Got to go._

_And the man turned back and retraced his steps, while Nanaba waved at him. Then she glanced at her friend who was reading attentively._

__ So, how is our dear Delphine? She asked after a moment._

__ As bitter as usual, mumbled Hanji._

__ At her age she won’t change._

_Then, Hanji summed up what Delphine had written: she wanted her to go to search the Dragonborn as soon as possible, and to ride slowly so messenger would be able to reach her. The old Blade also advised to go to Ivarstead, in case the Dragonborn would answer to the Greybeards’call._

__ So far nothing you didn’t know._

__ She also gave us a list of places where we can sleep, added Hanji who did not like compliments, and where her messengers will be able to find us. At least something useful. She assures she uses all her connections to cover all Skyrim’s territory. She will keep us informed if she hears something about the Dragonborn. This is why she insists that we follow her instructions._

_Nanaba sniggered. The personality of Delphine was something the two women liked to laugh about. It was better than getting enraged._

__ Maybe she’s afraid of becoming useless if you’re taking steps without consulting her._

__ She’s gonna be more impossible with the Dragonborn around here... She also says she wants us to keep her informed. She thinks that, with the appearance of a Dragonborn, the Blades will emerge from oblivion and that, if we want to recruit, it’s now or never. And then she rambles, that I have to distrust the Greybeards and that they are cowards, that I have to find the Dragonborn before he meets them, otherwise they will divert him from his fate..._

_She carelessly put the message in her cross-body bag._

__ She tells us to hurry to find the Dragonborn, but not to hurry so a messenger can join us. And she repeated “Dragonborn” at least twenty times. She gets overexcited. I’m sure she’s hopeful to see the Blades’ back in her lifetime and to get revenge over the Thalmor. In fact the Dragonborn is more a chance to accomplish something that an occasion to fight dragons, to her._

__ So. Are we gonna hurry toward Ivarstead?_

__ No. We’re keeping our pace. Ivarstead is far too decentered. If Delphine discovers that the Dragonborn rides toward the North and that we have to turn around, at least we’ll have a shorter journey ahead. And if he arrives to the High Hrothgar, it doesn’t mean it’ll be too late to talk._

_She spurred her horse who set off slowly again, and Nanaba followed her. While the sun at the zenith provided a shy heat and the chilly wind bowed the tall grass, the women moved onto a slope which announced the mountains they came closer to._

__ What does make you think that the Dovahkin will not visit the Greybeard? Nanaba asked._

__ It’s only my suppositions, answered Hanji._

_She explained that the soldier had described them as three travellers who were on horseback. They had passed near of Whiterun, one of the few neutral and secure cities in Skyrim, however they had chosen not to make a stopover, at the risk of travelling by night. They even had left the road. This was why she thought they had been on something._

__ Okay, but, why do you think they don’t ride toward the High Hrothgar? I mean, yes, they seem to have a destination, but why not the Greybeards?_

__ I’m not sure, but first, they already were on their way when they heard the Greybeards’ call. It means that the Greybeards did not know the Dovahkin’s existence before he used his Voice to kill the dragon. They weren’t waiting for him. Of course he could have chosen beforehand to visit them without warning them... What... what really concerns me is that he already knows how to use his Voice._

_Suddenly, Nanaba understood that the nervous frown on Hanji’s face was not because of the Dragonborn’s disappearance._

__ He knows he is a Dragonborn, and he already uses at least one dragon shout. To master a shout, you have to learn the three words of power it’s made of. The soldier confirmed us he knew the complete Fus Ro Dah shout. It means that he already found the words of power, which you find in old Nordic temples invested by Draugrs, that he already understood them, without asking the Greybeards, even without being heard by them. The Greybeards, who can detect a word of power everywhere in Skyrim, who can know when someone consumes a dragon’s soul, did not feel the presence of a Dragonborn who was training. It’s inconceivable!_

__ I see... A trained Dragonborn whose we don’t know the intention could be a danger, Nanaba remarked._

__ Especially during a war..._

_This answer thrilled the Companion._

__ We’ve discovered the Dragonborn on a road located at the centre of Skyrim. He was riding toward the East. I know we can’t make deduction upon a man who seems to not follow roads. But let’s suppose he came from the West, where the Imperials lead. And he’s riding toward the East, the Stormcloak’s territory. Well, the Stormcloak’s leader is a man who murdered the High King by using the Thu’um._

__ Hanji..._

_Nanaba all of a sudden really was anxious._

__ Are you assuming that we’re searching an Imperial’s agent?_

_But in front of her worry, Hanji did not stop._

__ I thought about this, last night. Learning the Thu’um is impossible for a single man. He would have needed costly and rare information. It’s easier to figure a man helped by a powerful faction which would have reunited some words of power instead of him. And the Imperial would have been able to sent him away, in another state of the Empire, in Cyrodiil, High Rock, or the Summerset Isles, far, far away from Skyrim, far enough for the Greybeards to not hear a young Dragonborn training..._

__  Hanji. You’re telling me that we’re searching a Thalmor’s agent? That you’re gonna present yourself as a Blade in front of a Thalmor’s agent?_

_Nanaba was not laughing anymore. The Thalmor had destroyed the Blades a long time ago. They fought Talos’ cult, but Talos once had been a man, Tiber Septim, who the Blades had sworn allegiance to. In this time, when we learnt from travellers that in Markarth the Altmers were hunting anyone who glorified Talos, it could not be a good idea for a Blade to reveal oneself to them._

__ I know, Nan’. This is just a hypothesis. The Dovahkin could as well be searching other words of power, or merely join Ulfric Stormcloak. Even though I don’t like the idea of asking for his help, I’d rather like this than hiding to the Dragonborn I’m a Blade._

__ Did you even sleep last night?_

_Nanaba’s question surprised Hanji, who smiled bitterly._

__ Why do you ask?_

__ Eh... I don’t know... If we’re gonna search the Dragonborn hiding the reason why, it’ll complicate many things._

__ Yeah... Let’s find him for now..._

 

                Our dear reader will understand we skip some monotonous descriptions of the travel. This edition does not aim for exhaustiveness, as we already said, and we will concentrate on keys-points of the tale, especially since horseback journeys can be pretty long and boring. We will settle for only sum up the road.

                Hanji and Nanaba once again rode toward the Valtheim Towers which the Blade and Lydia had met the day before. Here they met the same bandits and paid them a second time. You could have many friends through Skyrim with mate’s rates. Then our horsewomen followed the river. They could have rode toward the South, but they surely thought of a road with possible stages. It is not good to sleep under the stars of the Fourth Era’s Skyrim, especially for two women. And they arrived to the Mixwater Mill, their first stage, at twilight. A sawmill included a thatched cottage where the workers could sleep, and commonly travellers could ask for a roof over their head for a night. Gilfre, the owner, was alone since her workers left to fight in the Civil War. We thought a good idea to indicate you, for what comes next, something that Armin does not specify. From Mixwater Mill, the next stage Hanji and Nanaba aimed for was the Darkwater Crossing mining, located to one-travelling-day. One full day. We advise our reader to keep this information in mind.

                We pick our tale up again, when Hanji and Nanaba have arrived to the sawmill, asked for bed and board and have dinner with Gilfre. They go ahead the dormitory, are tired but mainly Nanaba feels worried for her friend after their morning discussion.

 

                _Nights of Skyrim were teeming with noises and colours. By clear skies, rosy northern lights dressed in stars slowly danced around Masser, while shy flakes swirled down and dissolved on the oozing soil, to the music of sweet hooting and wind in foliage and far away in the summits, making the shadows swing._

_Nanaba, on the threshold of the dormitory, was inhaling this fresh whispering watercolour, while Hanji was inside, silently undoing a bedcover Gilfre had lent her._

                _The blonde woman wished they could have got out enjoying the clear night. But Hanji had not even shot at the constellation she had loved talking about some days ago, she had stayed silent when Nanaba asked for room and board to Gilfre, and it quite rightly worried her friend. As far back as I can remember, Hanji always tried to hide when she was preoccupied. She was the kind of person who did not want to disturb, who always thought that her problem did not worth implicating anyone else. It was an ordeal to make her talk. However, this day, she did not even tried to smile for hiding her unease._

__ Do you want to talk or do you prefer trying to sleep? Nanaba asked closing the door._

__ I always want to talk, Hanji answered while slipping under the covers._

__ Good. Then go ahead._

__ You’re the one proposing. What do you want to talk about?_

_Nanaba sat on the edge of Hanji’s bed._

__ What about skooma’s distillation?_

__ Surprising topic, but okay._

__ You stupid stubborn, Nanaba said while pinching Hanji’s cheeks. Will you tell me what bother you?_

__ Putting aside dragons’ calamity over all Skyrim and an untraceable Dovahkin who might work with our worst enemy? Should I mention letting Armin alone during the Civil War?_

_Hanji never told it to me, but I am pretty sure that Nanaba reacted brutally, by hitting her with a pillow or stealing her glasses. And then saying her to not be ironical in her presence, and Hanji certainly answered she had just been ironic with the skooma’s topic, and Nanaba surely redoubled in violence in front of such an effrontery. I regularly saw them squabble like sisters, so it is something I have no doubt about. For grown up women, they could be so childish..._

__ Tell me what’s wrong or I’ll break your arm, Nanaba surely told._

__ Let me go, you flea-invested mutt !_

__ You should scream it louder, they don’t hear you in Markarth!_

_Then Hanji surrendered and spoke._

__ Naaah, nothing so bad, just annoyed by what Delphine told in her letter._

__She said pretty much things in her letter._

__ That part about recruiting new Blades’ members._

_Then Nanaba figured what could disturb Hanji. Delphine was essentially motivated by the Blades’ resurgence. Even though she asked Hanji to search some new allies at the first opportunity, and even though Hanji did not intend to obey it, the old woman would obviously hire on her side of things._

__ You’re afraid that she gets the Blades noticed by the Thalmor?_

__ Yeah. Exactly. Can we sleep, now?_

__ Write her. Tell her this is probably too soon to audition some young future little dragon killing machines._

_Usually, when it was about collecting ninroot or contemplating and thinking about the constellations, Nanaba, even though she was a vigorous woman, did not follow Hanji’s dynamism. And she enjoyed it, it was a good health sign. This time, she had her friend silent, slow, who made again her bed step-by-step, not looking at her, barely answering her._

__ She won’t listen to me._

__So tell her that you’re suspecting her dear Dragonborn to be an agent of her dear Thalmor. It’s gonna get her disheartened. And what will please me it’s that you’ll put her in her place. Make her feel that she’s an old hag while you’re the bright future the Blades are destined for, so she will stop telling you what to do and you will shine as the new Blades’ leader._

__ Yeah, yeah. You’re right. I’ll write to her._

_Unfortunately for Hanji, who just wanted to end the discussion, Nanaba knew when she was speaking to make her content._

__ Don’t “yeah-yeah” me. If you don’t write to her, I’ll do. And I’ll be harsh._

__ Do you want to be harsh now, or can you wait for tomorrow? I’m really _ really _ tired._

__ ... Don’t worry, you’ll get yours._

_Nanaba stood up to go back to her own bed while Hanji got off her glasses, untied her hair and plunged into her sheets, too happy to finally have some rest. Later, when Auntie Nan’ told me about how Momji ended this conversation, I could not but smile, because it was so her..._

__ Eh, Nan’... Sorry... If you still want to talk about skooma’s distillation, I can give you five minutes before fainting._

_This made Nanaba really laugh._

_They certainly slept for three hours. Or at least, Nanaba was asleep while Hanji was rolling over and over in bed, her mind keeping trotting out what disturbed her. It was past midnight when Nanaba abruptly stood up straight and still to listen to the night, making Hanji jump with surprise._

__ Oh, please, you scared the..._

__ Shhh!_

_Hanji instantly kept quiet, staring at her friend, understanding something had woken up her increased instincts. She discreetly grabbed her glasses then stood up too. Nanaba did not move, so did not she too. She waited for her to say something. She did not speak at all. She just listened. Hanji kept her ears open. But did not hear anything. One minute, two minutes went. She was dying to ask her what she had heard, but she knew Nanaba would shush her. So she waited, gazing anxiously at her friend._

_She finally distinguished some sharp noises. A gallop which was getting closer. Nanaba jumped from her bed and hurried to the door, followed by Hanji. The wood was hard, she had to force it so the door could open. They hurried outside, but too late, a horse and its rider passed them without any attention. He already rode away and the women looked at his back disappear in the night, behind the thin curtain of snowflakes. Hanji then looked at Nanaba._

__ What? she asked, nervous. What did you feel? Who was him?_

_Her friend looked daggers at him and did not answer her. So she took her arm and shook it._

__So what! Who was him? Don’t tell me he was the Dov-_

__ A Khajiit._

_Her answer amazed Hanji._

__ What?_

__ I... I just know it’s a Khajiit._

__ No, please, Nan’! You woke me up for a Khajiit?_

_Nanaba gave her a look shared between guilt, deception and disbelief._

__ You weren’t even sleeping._

__ And what if I had been? You really need to stop with the Khajiit! You’re worst than the Stormcloaks!_

_Nanaba frowned._

__ Don’t you think a lone Khajiit galloping by night is fishy?_

__ Not when you’re the one talking! You’re suspecting every Khajiit!_

__ I’m not suspecting every Khajiit. They all are suspicious. It’s different._

_Hanji turned away to sigh, and for her peace of mind checked the surroundings, brushing away the flakes with her hand._

__ I swear, by Talos..._

__ But why is he riding alone by night? Nanaba asked, getting angry._

__ For thousand of different reasons that we can’t know, unless you want to go after him._

__ Oh, please, Miss Bad-mood, in your normal state you would have agreed!_

_Hanji shrugged, in bad faith, then Nanaba turned and headed for the stable._

__ What is it now? Hanji asked._

__ I’m checking if he didn’t steal our horses._

__ You should also check if the owner is still alive. Maybe he killed her to steal her Moon Sugar._

_Nanaba did not react to the irony and disappeared behind the house. Hanji thought of getting back in the dormitory. But her friend was right twice: she could not sleep, and this Khajiit surprised her. Her first reflex had been to mock Nanaba’s obsession for the cat-men; this was something she and I liked to laugh about, though I would understand only later the real nature of the Circles’ members and the reason why she did not like Khajiits. But Khajiits were nomads and travelled on foot in a group. Obviously, this one had urgent stuffs in mind. She did not see him though, but he could be a messenger or a flying bandit. For a moment, she was tempted to take her horse and in fact go after him. However, she could not allow herself to run by night when she was searching for the Dragonborn, and anyway he was already out of sight in the dark night._

_There were no colours anymore: huge grey clouds had set up in the sky and had consumed the light. It was full dark, and now thick snowflakes fell straight. It was biting cold. The wind had vanished, silencing the whole scenery. This was what stroke Hanji first: no swishing, no nocturnal bird, no insect. As if she was alone in the world._

_Only the footsteps of Nanaba who quietly came back resounded. Hanji turned toward her, deducing by her calm pace that the horses were where they had left them. She gazed at her friend, relieved by this comforting presence, glad that she had come with her. Nanaba told her some apologies for having woken her up in vain, stopping in front of her. Hanji gave her a little smile, was about to answer her when her eyes stopped on her friend’s blond hair._

_The snowflakes which had fallen in her hair did not melt, strewing and soiling her locks. Nanaba asked her why she looked at her like this. Hanji just extended a hand to her head and took some flakes. It did not melt either in her hand. It crumbled in powder under her fingers’ pressure. She examined it. Then looked at the ground. It was scattered by this strange snow. Nanaba also extended her palm. She caught some of it. It was falling upon them._

_Hanji’s blood turned to ice when she understood._

__ Ashes..._

_And as if someone had wanted to answer, a loud, rough, deep and powerful roar rang out in all the mountains, amplified by reverberation on the summits. It seemed like it came from both everywhere and anywhere. When it stopped, its echo prolonged it, and then a new roar followed. No one who never heard it before can really imagine it. And the ones who heard it never want to hear it again._

_The women stayed petrified; they scrutinised the sky, but the clouds and the ashes rain hid the dragon. Instinctively, they looked the road the Khajiit came from. All they could vaguely distinct was a pallid glimmer who rose above peaks and hills, far, far away to north-east._

__ Where is it? Nanaba asked, protectively taking Hanji’s arm._

__ Far away from us, calm down._

__ We should get inside!_

__ No, if he comes here, we need to see him first so we can run away in the woods._

_This instant, the old Gilfre got out and found her two guests. She ran toward them, panicked, and Nanaba came to her, trying to shush and reassure her, while Hanji realised the worst. The Khajiit was flying the dragon. The ashes meant that the beast already had destructed something, and that there was a huge blaze under this glow. But the roars seemed to come from the sky. Maybe he had left._

_Hanji hurried to ask the woman if there was something in this direction. Actually, on the way for Windhelm, there was Kynesgrove, a mining settlement where around ten people lived. She asked how long it took to reach it. Two hours on foot, answered the old woman. So it would be faster on horseback, Hanji thought. Maybe less than an hour by galloping. If the Khajiit had left at the beginning of the assault, it meant it began an hour ago, so there were chances the dragon had gone._

__ Nanaba, let’s go! Hanji told while walking to the dormitory._

__ What? Where? Over there? Are you crazy?_

__ The roar did not come from there, he’s already left._

_She took her bag, put her overcoat on, picked up the last thing she had let and while Nanaba imitated her, she went to Gilfre and told her to get everything precious she had, to cover her up and to wait outside, a few metre from there, to not be surprised by the dragon in case he would come here. They would go back to reassure her and help her. The old woman already ran toward her home, and Hanji and Nanaba went to the stable to get their horses._

__ Why are we going over there?_

__ Helping first. The Khajiit surely was searching for help._

_But what Hanji did not explain was that the cat-man was riding toward the south where there was nothing when to the North he could have averted Windhelm guards. Who was he searching that way?_

_The cavalcade was hard. The horses did not appreciate being dragged out of bed to face cold in such a long effort. They were slow first. Hanji wondered if it would be still something to save when they would arrive. Moreover, the sky really was threatening. Overcast, while embers fell with snowflakes, it did not allow watching out for a dragon they though knew flying above her. At the least shadow, Nanaba jumped and then swore. She also fulminated against the ashes which fell in her eyes. The more they approached the glimmer, the more it rose over their heads, giving an idea of the height of the flames. They only could pray that they arrived in time. Soon the growl of the fire resounded. They heard some screams and sputters._

__ Water! Hurry up! We need water!_

_Through some trees, they distinguished a building, an inn, devastated by flames. The fire also extended over the trees, the installations, releasing a thick smokescreen. Snowflakes had disappeared, only heavier and larger ashes fell, and even though they were a few meters away, the women already felt the heat of the blaze._

_Hurrying, Hanji got down and ran toward some soldiers who were going round and round in circles, giving uncertain orders no one obeyed to, while some Khajiits were trying to bring water pails, but the river was too far._

__ Hey! Is there any wounded person? Hanji asked to some soldiers._

__ No, no, answered an hopeless guard, only dead people burnt alive! The occupiers of the inn managed to get out, but some took refuge in the mine, and the structure is wood-made, and the fire propagated inside, and some officers tried to get them, but they are still in there, and..._

__ Is any help gonna come?_

__ Horseman went to Windhelm but the dragon followed them! I don’t know if it..._

__ Damn it! How many are they in there?_

__ Ten or so!_

__ Is it a coal mine?_

__ No, an iron one!_

__ Did the guards take a cloth to not breath smoke?_

__ A cloth to... what?_

__ To not breath... Don’t tell me they went without anything!_

_The situation was worst than she could have thought. If the fire had gained inside, it meant that the wood-structure was burning and that the tunnel was about to fall down. She told the guard to show her the mine, and asked him how many guards had come inside. All the officers and the experimented soldiers, so around fifteen men to help the ten civilians. So they had to drag around twenty five people out of a burning mine. The guard who answered her was hopeless, as much as his mates. There was no organisation, no composure, and they were losing a precious time._

_Hanji called all the other soldiers. She told them to soak themselves with Khajiits’ water, and to wrap there mouth and nose with a cloth. She established a hand-signal: a fist to come near to her, and an open hand to immediately get out of the mine. To haul out one victim, they would need to be in pairs. Some would wait outside to resuscitate the asphyxiated ones. No one had to take an initiative, they had to coordinate so they would be more efficient. Only too happy to have someone who knew what to do, all the young soldiers followed her orders without questioning._

_Nanaba followed her. Ahead of the first aiders, soaked and covered, they both drowned themselves in the burning entrée. Hanji hoped that the fire did not yet reach the depths of the tunnel, so, once the first flames crossed, all they had to fear was the suffocation. But a dragon’s fire comes from Akatosh himself. The heat was unbearable. Smoke chafes eyes. Everywhere they laid a foot, it seemed like it was burning through the boot. The water they had poured on themselves only was a thin protecting layer that gradually became finer._

_Hanji blessed her glasses to protect her eyes. She soon saw the first shape of a fainted soldier. She raised her fist so two guards joined her and lifted the victim. While they already left the mine with their burden, she, Nanaba and the other soldiers kept advancing. The flames still was in full swing, the wood-structure made some loud cracks that worried Hanji. The floor, the ceiling, the stairs, the tables, the wheelbarrows, the tools, everything was burning. Two others contours lied, Hanji raised twice her fist, and four soldiers came to save them. They left, and Hanji, Nanaba and the remaining guards followed their path. There were few asphyxiated up to then. Hanji hoped that they were isolated cases of soldiers who panicked and tried to exit the mine, while the others found refuge further away._

_However, they reached an intersection. The blaze did not lower in both paths, and when Hanji turned back to ask the soldiers, she realised that they were only four left. So it was impossible _ and too dangerous in this hellfire _ to split. She thought about trying one path randomly, but what if there were others junctions? What if she chose the wrong way? She moved a little more to look at the path she believed more spared by the fire, but it ascended, so the smoke would follow this way. Did the soldiers and civilians have thought about this risk? Did they follow the way the flames were ravaging now? She did not see any shape that had could show her the right path, and the more seconds passed, the more she panicked because of her lack of decision. She once again glanced back to her group. Nanaba had moved away to look at the other track, while the four soldiers were waiting for an order. The water had dried. The cloth soon would not protect enough their lungs. They needed more people if they had to help other victims. And she needed to ask someone who knew this mine’s map. Finally, she gave them a heads up and retraced her steps, glancing back to make sure everyone followed her. Nanaba seemed pretty confused. She followed her anyway. They all fled the burning tunnel._

_Once outside, they removed their clothes to have a breath of air. The soldiers she had sent away with rescued people were about to join them, soaking themselves once again. Hanji was going to ask them about the mine’s paths when she felt a hand upon her shoulder._

__ Why did we get out, Hanji? Nanaba asked, worked up. They’re still inside and we’re losing time!_

__ We needed more men who know where the civilians could have gone! she answered._

_Then she called the ones who were in charge of resuscitation, and asked the Khajiits to help the fainted people. There was no need to get water: the blaze was too far below to even think of extinguish it. The only urgency was to save the victims._

_But when she asked the guards if they had any idea of the path the civilian could have followed, no one was able to give her an answer. They nearly never got inside the tunnel, and they barely could find their bearings in there. They started again from scratch. Should they randomly choose a path? Should they split? Now they had reunited in front of the doorway, they were around fifteen plus the ones who were curing the secured people and two Khajiits who joined. It was easier this way to split._

__ Okay, let’s make two groups! One half with Nanaba and the others with me! We’re keeping the same signals and the same method!_

_And then they were back at the heart of the fire. For this second race, the exhaustion already became apparent. Despite the clothes, everyone struggled to breath. Heath and pressure made their ears burn and whistle. What worried Hanji more and more was the noise of crackling the burning beams made louder and louder._

_In front of the intersection, Hanji paused and hesitated once again. The ascending path was still more smoke-filled but spared by flames while flames devoured the other way. She glanced at the beams through the fire: they were fewer over there, it was a tunnel directly ground-dug. The risk of collapse would be tinier this way. They only had to cross some flames._

__ Nan’, she called through her cloth. Take this path with your team! If you don’t find anyone, catch us up! And please, please, be careful of smoke!_

_Her friend glanced at the first path, then back at Hanji._

__You’re the one telling this? You’re gonna follow all the gas!_

__ I’ll see better than you with my glasses! Don’t protest, hurry up!_

_So Nanaba obeyed and called her team after her in the other side of the tunnel, while Hanji and her men climbed up the smoke-filled path. She told them to carefully keep their cloth on the mouth and nose and to protect their eyes as possible._

_They sank into the mine for five good minutes without finding either the end or fainted victims. There was no blaze but the smoke was extremely irritating, and men had to hold each other’s hand to not get lost or stumble. Hanji wondered if the victims had the good idea of following the smoke to find an issue, but she really doubted that the mine could end in broad daylight. She called twice but got no answer. She began to think they had chosen the wrong path when suddenly, she tripped over something. This was a body. She immediately leant to take their pulse. It was weak but still. She raised her hand and had to talk because soldiers kept their eyes closed. Two of them took the first person, and then, one after another, to Hanji’s great relief, the others soon found the nine left civilians. But no mark of the first rescue team. They surely had followed Nanaba’s path, considering that it was more urgent to explore the burning way. They quickly took every body, and were barely enough so some had to lift one person by themselves. Hanji took a young girl on her back and followed the first men who were leaving._

_They hurtled down the tunnel, went back to the burning zone, passed the intersection. Hanji slowed down to glance in there, wanting to see Nanaba or her team, but she did not see anything and the girl she was carrying urgently needed some fresh air. She looked at the ones who followed her and, seeing them, rushed toward the exit._

_Suddenly, right in the middle of the burning corridor, she heard a loud thud. She wanted to stop and check, but the soldier behind her speeded her up. She already distinguished the exit, so she focalised and ran, and the two guards and their burden followed her._

_They finally got out of the blaze with a relieved sigh. They dropped the victims so they could begin the resuscitation process. One of the Khajiit came to Hanji to take the young girl, while she was getting rid of her cloth to breath. Then she looked all around her. And froze. Nanaba and her team were not here. They did not get out, probably still searching the first rescue team. Hanji was about to tell the soldiers to get ready when horror got her. She remembered the sound, and understood what it was._

_She searched the guards who had been just behind her, and who were trying to catch their breath._

__ Hey! What was the noise we just heard after the intersection?!_

_With a breath that sounded like an asthma attack, one answered:_

__ A collapse!... The... The joist did not cope!... The ceiling... just fell down..._

__ What?! another guard shouted. But they’re still inside! Around... twenty five people? Maybe thirty?_

_I know Hanji was internally yelling. While the soldiers were panicking, she, tears in her eyes, surely tried to get her thought together in superhuman effort to find a solution. But there was no other exit. They could not extinguish the fire, they were not enough to form a chain that reached the closest watering hole. And anyway, inside there, they would already have burnt alive. She thought of suffocating the flames with soil. But then saw it was impossible. She thought of making an explosion to clear the way and blow the blaze out. But it was too hazardous._

_There was only one solution, they had to clear out the burning debris bare-handed. She took once again a water bucket and soaked herself, then put her cloth on her mouth and nose and was going to get back inside to save Nanaba, but one hand on her arm stopped her._

__ Miss, you can’t return in there! a soldier said._

__ It’s possible to remove the debris, we have to..._

__ We’re not even enough to save two rescue teams!_

_Hanji violently freed herself and shouted:_

__ They’re maybe still conscientious and able to drag out the victims, but indeed, if you all keep losing time, they’ll be dead because of you!_

__ We can’t save them, miss! The ceiling surely already squashed them!_

__ My friend went into this blaze because your officers were fool enough to not think about the smoke, so you shut your mouth and help them all so I’ll tell the jarl you all are heroes, or else..._

_I am pretty sure she was about to call them coward. But she stopped herself. Hanji was not a mean woman. She did not insult people who did not deserve it._

__ Please... I beg you... Let’s just try something... They’re burning alive right now..._

_In front of her despair, the soldiers did not dare answer. They stayed silent and it was just so much lost time. So Hanji did not wait for them. She rushed forward the entry, was about to get inside the burning mine, to save her dear friend even though she had to do it alone, when suddenly, the wooden door fell down upon her. She fell to the ground, plastered against the soil, her leg beneath a joist in flame. Immediately the soldiers went to help her, lifted the beam up and pulled her from the fire._

_She did not know if the pain was due to a burn or to the hit. She did not care. While the guards took her away from the mine and make her sit far away, back to a tree, she only could feel helplessness and rage against herself and against the fire. She only could think about Nanaba stuck in this damned tunnel. Her face was running with sweat and tears. She was in the height of distress._

_She had not noticed the loud rumble that came from the road she and Nanaba had followed. She had not noticed the moving shadows beneath the night that were getting closer and closer. One thing though dragged her out of her drowsiness. A loud, rough voice._

__ Dawnguards! Form a chain to the closest watering hole!_

_She just turned back to see only long hoofs passing in front of her, creating a draught, whipping up her hair. To the sound of gallop, tens and tens horses and their riders came, arranged themselves in a line, from the blaze to the stream over there. They all got down of their mount, and in front of the astounded soldiers, they took the buckets._

__As soon as the water comes, use it to clear out the way! the voice started again. I want ten men to care for the wounded!_

_Straight away, ten guards withdrew from the row to go to the fainted civilians, while the buckets circulated in the hands of the chain. Soon the first water bucket was already thrown on the flames. Their rapidity amazed Hanji. She barely realised what happened in front of her open wide eyes. She did not dare to breath, still pierced by anxiousness, still stunned by the perspective of Nanaba’s death. And yet suddenly appeared unhoped for but inestimable help._

__ Soldier! the voice called. Is there an officer here to give us a report on the mine?_

__ There, this woman took the helm!_

_Hanji immediately tried to stand up despite her leg, and leaning on the tree with one hand, she turned back._

_Erwin Smith was walking toward her, with his firm and determined gait, this look that made people recognize him as the leader just by seeing him. Flame lights shone upon his blond groomed hair and made his dawnguard’s uniform glow red. He had a hand upon his sheathed sword’s pommel  and with the other held his horse’s rein, a white thoroughbred that distinguished itself from the Skyrim’s usual Clydesdales. Mike Zacharius followed him close up._

_I am pretty sure the first thing Hanji felt when she saw Erwin was a relieved hope that he would save Nanaba. Because Erwin was this kind of man who inspired trust only by a unique charisma we cannot figure except if we already felt it. He emitted a natural assertiveness, a feeling that everything was under his control. And on top of that, there was no need to know him well to guess his deep kindness. So when Hanji saw him, I know that he came to her as a saviour._

_Stopping in front of her, seeing that she tottered, he caught her elbow to hold her up._

__ How many are they inside there? he asked directly._

__ Twenty eight, and fifteen for more than half an hour, she answered right away. Once you’ll clean out the entry, it’ll be on your left to the first intersection. But it collapsed, so you’ll have to clear out the way. I don’t know if there’s other junctions further away. And be careful, the beams will not hold out much longer._

_Erwin turned to Mike._

__ Hurry up, take our best men and protect your face._

_The tall blond man assented and, waving to others dawnguards, he headed for the mine. Hanji wanted to follow him, only thinking about saving Nanaba, but she limped, so Erwin held her back gently._

__ Your leg?_

__ It’s nothing, my friend’s inside there..._

__ Trust my men. Don’t put yourself in danger with your leg._

_He gave a quick glance at the civilians some dawnguards were taking care of._

__ It seems you’ve already done well. I’ll get you a healer._

_And then he let her to head to his men who were abundantly spraying the blaze with fire. Already the entry was clear, and Mike and some dawnguards, soaked and covered, got inside the tunnel with water buckets. Erwin reached the chain and ordered that, despite the risk of collapse, they lengthened it inside the mine so they could soak the debris and push it out of the way, and everyone immediately obeyed. One after one, they followed Mike’s team inside the burning corridor. Limping, Hanji managed to reach the chain to help the circulation of water. Erwin was helping just at the threshold. And there, after an intolerable instant of despair, the efforts and the waiting began again. One bucket after another, they all set themselves against the flames. Water disappeared inside the burning mine, without any possibility of knowing if they managed to clear out the path. Each time she gave a bucket to the next person, Hanji felt like another eternity had passed. And still no one got out of the mine. Only empty pails that just begged for more water. No one weakened, and it lasted for ten long minutes, while Hanji pleaded incessantly the Nine Divines that they gave her back her friend. Soon, Erwin ordered that the chain stopped and that more men went inside. So did the Dawnguards. Without any hesitation, several soldiers dived into the burning mine to help the rescue. The human chain kept spraying water on the doorway, and flames started to slowly wane. The steam soon joined the smoke. Not far away, the inn and the trees around were still burning, and suddenly, in loud racket, the building collapsed and raised a cloud of ashes. So they moved the victims who were slowly regaining consciousness. Some brought snow to treat the burns. And time flied, and flied._

_One dawnguard got out from the mine and ran toward Erwin._

__We’ve managed to clear the way, sir, but the other beams are alarming, so Mike asked other men to evacuate people quicker._

_Erwin immediately turned to the chain and put up a hand._

__ Stop the chain, I want ten more guards to get inside! The others, get ready to take turns!_

_Straight away, the dawnguards next to Hanji let their bucket and left to run toward the mine. They just had enough time to soak themselves when they had to move aside so a first soldier got out from the blaze with a fainted one on his shoulders._

__ Gelgar! shouted another one. Look at your wrist!_

_A flame consumed his sleeves, and he shook his hand, panicking. One came to him with snow, while others took the saved person he held. Once his flame had extinguished, he turned to Erwin._

__ This one’s still alive, but there were two others with him, and they yet did not breath when we found them._

_Hanji ran limping toward the victim, and by remarking he was older than the young soldiers Nanaba and her had met, she deduced he was an officer from the first-aid team._

__ Our time is precious, answered Erwin, take only the alive ones._

__ Windhelm will reproach us for not having given back the corpses to the families._

__ If Ulfric Stormcloak had any right to judge us, I hope he’d rather like having some saved people than having every corpses. Don’t take the dead bodies. Just hurry up to get out from this hellfire._

__ Yes, sir._

__ Where are Mike and his team?_

__ I took the first victim we found, but when I was leaving, I heard voices behind me. I think they found the second first-aid team, so they’ll not be long._

__ Was there any other collapse?_

__ Not enough to obstruct the way. I just hope no one took a joist on the face._

_And while they were talking, shadows appeared inside the burning flames, approaching hastily. Every eyes fixed the doorway while holding their breath, and when two dawnguards lifting a young soldier got out from the blaze, right away others went to help them and reanimate the fainted man. No sooner they could have breath the outside fresh air when other men sprang up from the mine, each one holding the arm of a third one, stunned by gas, the face blackened by the smoke and the embers. Soon, in front of Hanji’s anxious eyes, the dawnguards and their saved burden exited one after another, and immediately others took charge of the resuscitation, lifting the victims further away, where every wounded laid down. They showed a redoubtable efficacy. In one minute, seven people yet had been dragged out of the mine. And it seemed like they were enough inside there, because no one went back in the mine._

_At long last, Erwin’s right arm Mike left the mine, dragging Nanaba, her arm over his shoulders. Hanji hurried toward them, and lightened the tall blond man taking her friend from him. Nanaba was dead on her feet, she only left Mike’s shoulders to lean on Hanji, who still suffered with her leg, so they slowly kneeled down, and Hanji, euphoric, hugged Nanaba, who literally had fallen in her arm, wiping her relieved tears in the darkened blond hair of her friend._

__ It’s okay, Nan’, just breath, she told her, clearing her face of the soot. It just was a hot flush._

_That really made Nanaba giggle, with some coughs._

__ Don’t make me laugh, it hurts..._

_Another coughing fit drew Hanji’s attention. She looked up at Mike, who was still trying to get his breath back._

__ You’re alright? she asked._

__ Could be better, I guess, he answered. Just need an instant._

__ Were you the last one? Erwin asked, approaching._

__ Yeah... There’s no living one anymore inside there._

_It stroke Hanji then. She just realised what Nanaba had escaped from, and strengthened her clasp on her friend who had leaned her head upon her shoulders and closed her eyes, getting some rest._

__ Thank you... she said to Mike and Erwin, while gently rocking her friend. Really... Thank you..._

_Mike only answered with a nod and moved away, coughing, looking for water. Everyone had distanced from the blaze, so there were only Hanji, a worn out Nanaba in her arm and Erwin in front of the mine. No one talked yet. This was not an awkward silent, they only took their time to overcome the situation that just had ended. The blaze still crackled, and now that no one was spraying water upon the wood-door, it seemed like the fire was regaining its strength and wanted to end what it had started. The flames were increasing, growing toward the nocturnal sky, and behind it a thud resounded, letting guess another collapse._

__ We should not stay here, Erwin said, offering a helping hand to Hanji._

_She acquiesced and gently woke up Nanaba to make her stand up with Erwin’s hand. Then she took her arm over her shoulders, even though she limped, and kindly pulled her. The dawnguards were putting tents up to lay the wounded person down. They would be a place for Nanaba and her, Erwin assured. Mike was drinking and rinsing his face, while the Gelgar one cured his burnt wrist, and once they reached the two men, the tall blond one handed his flask to Nanaba, who would not have taken it without Hanji’s urging._

__ I’m not thirsty._

__ That’s the worst enormity you ever came out with. Just drink or I’ll drown you._

_Nanaba almost drank the whole flask, and Gelgar giggled, offering her mead if she still was thirsty. She sniggered and declined, and while Mike asked to some dawnguards a tent for her, Erwin turned to Hanji. He was about to ask her who they were, and how two women could have face a blaze with such effectiveness, and I know he was impressed that they had already saved all the civilians before the Dawnguard came. He gave a smile to Hanji, who returned it, and it was supposed to initiate the conversation, but some sputters rang out from behind them._

__ Where’s the commander? I have to see the commander!_

_They turned around. A young soldier was crossing the Dawnguard’s row, eyes searching for Erwin, and when some men pointed at him, the shattered boy ran to him._

__ Sir! Why did you stop the chain! My brother’s still in the mine! We have to help him!_

_A heavy silence fell upon them all. Hanji, Nanaba, Gelgar, every dawnguards around there looked at the commander and the young man. Erwin glanced at Mike, who shook his head._

__ We saved everyone who still could be saved. I’m sorry for your broth..._

__ No, no, please, please, listen to me, commander, my brother can’t just... burn six feet under, I... We have to get back the corpses, to form the chain and extinguish this fire, like we just did, please, he intended to save the civilians in the very first team, and he wasn’t even an officer, he volunteered, he was a brave man, you can’t let him inside, he deserves the funeral rites, he deserves Sovngarde, please, I beg you, just form the chain already, just..._

_He was sobbing while talking, he had caught Erwin’s hands and bowed, almost kneeled down. Erwin gave a quick look at Mike, who understood the meaning of it. He took Nanaba’s arm and pulled the two women away, while signalling to the dawnguards to get away._

__ You need to rest, he said to Nanaba and Hanji._

_And no one protested. Little by little, everyone silently went away from Erwin and the young soldier, letting them alone. It left twice the feeling of desertion to Hanji: this young man needed help to face the bereavement of his brother; and the man who just saved the situation needed help to face this grieving man. Or did he? While Mike showed them a tent and sleeping bag where they laid Nanaba down, Hanji from time to time turned back to see if Erwin came back. But he did not. And she stretched out beside Nanaba, who was nearly fainting under the exhaustiveness, when she finally heard a cry._

__ But have you even a heart?!_

_And the young boy kept insulting the commander, and other voices came to calm him down, and it ended with terrible moans, that made Hanji shivered. She looked at Nanaba who was sleeping soundly, and heavy-hearted she thought again that she barely lost her that night. She tucked her in, fruitlessly casted a last glance to see Erwin, whose she did not even know the name yet, and then laid on her side and tried to get some sleep._

_Around five in the morning, the sky brightened up behind the mountain, announcing the dawn that was about to break. Clouds had pulled away, and there was only the smoke of the dying blaze that rose. Calm reigned in the camp. The dawnguards stayed awake, keeping vigil beside the wounded persons, around camp fires, speaking softly to not disturb those who were resting. Two riders had just left the camp with the mission of alerting Windhelm’s authorities, in other words Ulfric Stormcloak. As he had a reputation for being a stickler for Nord traditions, Erwin suspected that he would be zealous in expecting the thirteen corpses of the dead soldiers, so some brave industrious men had already begun to clear out the still smoking debris of the mine. Among them were Gelgar and the young soldier who had lost his brother._

_Erwin and Mike were further away, under the captain’s tent. Mike was summing up what the consequences of the night were._

__ Thirteen Windhelm soldiers died in the mine, plus two horseriders who had ridden toward Stormcloak’s city. Our scouts found their burnt out corpses. The dragon surely pursued them._

__ How many wounded persons? Erwin asked._

__ All the civilians still are recovering from the asphyxiation. The saved soldiers suffer from burns. A few of our men have lights burns too. Nothing terrible._

__ So will we be able to join Nile before Frost Fall?_

__ Should be so._

_From the front of his tent, Erwin swept the camp, examining his dawnguards’ work._

__ If everyone is able to travel at normal pace, we can afford to stay until Windhelm sends more men to take care about the wounded ones._

__ Nile will complain._

__ He always complains._

_Mike snorted. He could not refute._

__ Are the Khajiits all right too? Erwin asked again._

__ Ri’saad told us they were fine. You know them. They’re proud; they don’t want our help. They’re disassembling their encampment, they’ll go to Dawnstar, he told to me._

__ Just check that they’ll leave with enough remedies for those who are “fine”. Buy them something, anything expensive, and pay with medication._

__ Good idea._

_Then Mike joined Erwin under the tent’s threshold._

__ Wasn’t the little one too harsh, earlier?_

_Erwin sighed, silently observing this young man who was working, gritted teeth, reddened eyes. He had had harsh words a few hours ago, and his friends had to get him away from the Dawnguard commander so he could calm down. Now, even though he had not removed the soot from his face and from his Stormcloak’s uniform, he was digging to find back his brother’s body and give him the needed sepulchre. It was necessary to let him reach Sovngarde, he had said, the realm where the valiant Nords went after their death. Erwin sighed again, surprised and somewhat bothered by the superstition’s sweep of Eastmarch’s people. It was something his father had warned him against when he was a child. In wartimes, leaders took advantage of Sovngarde’s myth to galvanise soldiers. This was cyclic, and it seemed like Ulfric Stormcloak was no exception to the rule._

_Erwin’s eyes then went to the burnt inn’s wreckage. It made him reconsider his definition of superstitions, because a superstition just had destructed this building and the life of the inhabitants. He had heard about the dragons’ reappearance, about their attacks against isolated places, he had even heard the Greybeards’ shout the day before. And now, he was in front of the harmful effect of one of this beast. This was one more threat upon Skyrim. Really, it seemed like the Nine had chosen to end this world._

__ How couldn’t he be harsh? He finally answered. He lost his brother because of a beast that should have died thousand years ago._

__ Of course, Mike said. It’s just that we have... more strapping guys in the Dawnguard. You’re not regular at such outpourings like that._

__ If dragons keep reappearing this way, we’ll have to get regulars, my friend._

__ Vampires are enough._

_That made Erwin laugh bitterly._

_When Ri’saad, the Khajiit and leader of the Caravan, had come to ask for their help, Mike had been unwilling. What would they do if they found the dragon? They were able to fight vampires, even the most dreadful of them, but would their crossbows even tickle the beast? Erwin knew his subordinate was right, he had counted on the chance that the dragon may had left already. Moreover, the Dawnguard fought against vampires because it was a threat against people. It meant they had to save the victims, even though the enemy was not an immortal drinking blood. And it turned out to Erwin being right. It seemed like they had arrived just in time for the second first-aid team._

_The two women got in his mind. He had been impressed seeing they had already saved half of the victims. Soaking them and covering their face was a reflex some experimented officers did not have when they entered in the blaze, and this was why they were dead then. The two women had replaced them and leaded the young soldiers easily. They would have saved even more people without the collapse._

__ Those two women, he started. Did they tell who they are?_

__ Just heard that the blonde one was called Nan’, or something. Then I lend her my tent, and they were exhausted. Not really in the mood for a conversation._

__ I can understand this. They nearly saved everyone together, so I guess a rest was deserved. Plus, it seems like they were travellers. They surely accumulated tiredness. Where is your tent?_

_Mike glanced at him with an astonished look._

__ Nile said no wild recruitment._

__ First, Nile does not command. Then, I didn’t say I wanted them to join the Dawnguard, even though they are able to throw themselves into a blaze. Anyway, they surely want to join the Stormcloaks, by this way. I’m just curious._

__I’m sure you’re already dreaming they’d be some kind of foreign warriors come to accomplish a glorious mission, but needing help from a charming saviour that could be you. Not far from my childhood village, there were two women too, two sisters, who always came in autumn. They accomplished a long and perilous travel to the slope of our mountain, each year, and they often got into trouble, like being lost or striped. Do you know why? They were searching for truffles. One of the sisters was nuts for truffles. Your two foreign warriors surely are searching truffles too._

_Erwin really appreciated how Mike could be both prosaic and deadpan comic. He had the talent of telling absurd jokes with the most normal face of the world. And this discrepancy was what Erwin liked the most, even though other people did not understand what was so funny._

__ So, if they’re searching truffles, he replied, you could help her with your nose! It even could be an occasion for you to get married!_

__ Keep ignoring my warning, Smith, and soon the Dawnguard’s commander will be searching truffles without my nose’s help._

__ It would be a shame, my friend. Please, tell me where your tent is._

_So Mike indicated him the location. Then, letting him help Gelgar and the others, he went through the camp, quickly inspecting his dawnguards._

_There was only Nanaba sleeping when he arrived. He did not want to wake her up, so he silently got away and went to some near men. The other woman had woken up early in the morning and had gone to see the wounded persons, they answered. So he came to these tents, where he found injured soldiers who laid down on berths, and the brunette who was scraping the bottom of a bowl._

__ Hey, it’s true that’s good! You’re a doctor? one of them asked._

_He was rubbing his arm, anointed with some oil, contemplating it like if it was his manliness gotten back. From back there, Erwin looked at the other injured soldiers, who all had their fire injury covered by the ointment._

__ I know the alchemical basics and own a workshop in Whiterun, and I’ve already worked with the official alchemist, she replied with a reassuring smile. Fortunately, the Dawnguards had the ingredients!_

_Then the soldier answered he was pretty relieved, because when he had seen how she wanted to help them even though she still seemed to suffer from her own leg, he really had thought she was a novice who wanted to play God._

__ And what is a Whiterun’s alchemist doing in Kynesgrove?_

__ I’m... just travelling here and there... she stammered._

_From behind, Erwin had a little smile. She was a pretty bad liar._

__ So you’re an adventurer, uh? I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee..._

_Hanji started to get her alchemist’s tools, while the soldier was announcing that now he could add a dragon’s story to his list of hits. And Erwin, who was set back, remarked the sudden interest that showed the improvised healer._

__ Actually, she began, I wanted to know... Do you have any idea about where this dragon could come from?_

_Suddenly, the soldier got silent. Hanji raised her curious shining brown eyes to him. And then he asked her about her opinion about the war. Erwin saw how she stayed silent for a moment. He guessed the soldier wanted her to support Ulfric Stormcloak. And he was pleasantly surprised by the relevance of her answer._

__ I... can’t think that killing the high-king by using the Thu’um is a good thing to do when you want to rule a realm... And I’m not enough informed about Tiber Septim to know if he was a human or a god. But let’s be honest, I’m not fond of Thalmor at all. So if you’re afraid that I could be an imperial spy or something, I’m afraid you’d get disappointed._

_It seemed to lighten up the guard._

__ He! At least you’re honest! But Miss, promise me you won’t repeat it, it’d be shame on Windhelm garrison, we’d be the butt of Solitude’s jokes! No one of us saw the dragon’s approach!_

__ Isn’t it normal? The night was really dark, it wasn’t easy to see a dragon among the clou..._

__ No, no, Miss, I mean, this beast had already landed and was a few meters away from the inn when we saw it! It’s nonsensical, this is an enormous bug, I guess it’s really heavy and noisy, so I don’t understand how we guy managed to miss it! If it hadn’t roar, no one would have detected it!_

__ He roared? Hanji repeated, surprised._

_This question astonished Erwin. The Dawnguard was camping in Fort Amol, and from there they had heard the dragon’s roar. If she joined the blaze before them, she surely had heard it too. What could she have perceived?_

__ Several times! I’ll keep this sound in mind until my dying day! And, Talos saves us, it was powerful! While this monster was leaving, flying to the East, we still heard it through the flames! Ha, I really hope that after such a horrible night, Ulfric’ll let me retire, I’ll have stories to tell to my children!_

__ Did you see its colour?_

__ I’m not really sure because of the night, Miss, but... but maybe grey? Or brown? I really don’t know, our torches were not enough to see it well._

__ Can you tell me precisely where you saw him for the first time? Hanji asked while dropping off the ointment._

__ You see, the road to the inn? There’s a slope, to your right. Get down, we saw it a few meters over there!_

_Hanji immediately stood up and, waving, she got out by the opposite side and left the tent without even having seen Erwin._

_He stood still for a moment. Surely he did not have understood her whole behaviour. He wondered where she was going, what for, what she expected to find over there. Did she track the dragon? Was it to question him that she was curing the soldier? When asked about that, this one answered that she was waiting the healer to show her leg, but he was so busy that she suggested her help, and had prepared the ointment while discussing with the guards. And so, when following her, he noticed that she still hobbled._

_He could have joined her while she was getting away from the camp, going to the point the soldier had indicated. But Erwin was not a spontaneous man. He always took his time, and this day, something struck him about her. They were two women travelling alone by wartime. They had rushed toward a blaze a dragon had provoked. The young alchemist, who was quite evidently lying about her true journey’s motivations, showed interest for dragons; she even wanted to investigate about the beast, even though there was certainly nothing to examine then. When asked about the war, she did not mention the Imperials but the Thalmor, the ones who had destructed the Blades. And the point that really piqued his curiosity that, just two days ago, the Greybeards’ call had resounded over all Skyrim._

_Erwin first thought that Hanji could be the Dragonborn. He knew this idea tickled him since he had taken the time to think about the two women, even without having clearly popped up in his head. But Mike’s teasing and the extraordinary coincidence it would be did not allow him to hope it. However everything Hanji did, everything she said surprised him. He thought that it could be Nanaba too. But a Dragonborn stuck in flames would be ironic and somewhat disappointing. On the contrary, a young Dragonborn hobbling while searching for dragons, ruling experimented soldiers and fighting an unrelenting blaze, this looked like the beginning of the stories his father told him when he was a little boy. The thought that he could be totally wrong crossed his mind as a warning. But even if, did it matter? Was not this woman going alone where a dragon had appeared, after having saved nearly every civilian victims of the beast and even healing some injured soldiers?_

_Just as he had impressed her at his first appearance, he could not help but feel interested by her energy. So he followed her, observing her while she was leaving the road, hobbling, hopping on the slope, climbing upon the tore off tree trunks and the ground pile left by enormous legs and wings, tracing back the trail. Some weapons lied on the ground, marks that indicated the battled had began her, a few meters away from the hamlet, among the forest. And they got down again, sinking into the wood, Hanji scrutinising everything, Erwin looking at her far away behind her._

_Finally he saw her stop and raise her eyes in front of her. Immediately he noticed that she stood upon cut stones half-covered by dust and soil. While approaching, he saw it was circular. At the centre, an enormous hole dug the ground. It did quite astonish him, but he knew Kynesgrove was a sanctified place, so he thought it was an old Nordic construction._

_But then he saw how Hanji took her head between her hands, looking at the construction, incredulous-like, or rather dazed-like. She sat down on the stones, covering her face in her arm, her hands tangling in her hair, and Erwin, intrigued, first thought that she was tired and disappointed of not finding anything, but then he heard she was mumbling something in her arms, something that was growing up until it became clear, and then turned into shouted curses._

__ Shit, shit, shit, shit! Not this! Everything but not this!_

_Observation was over. Hanji immediately stopped when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned back and saw Erwin walking to her. The surprise and the sudden tightness of his presence made her wanting to stand up, but he put his hand on her shoulder while setting next to her to calm her down._

__ Did you even see the healer, before healing others? He asked with his kindly eyes._

_While he did not know her name and who she was, she already had heard his name among his dawnguards, and still felt the strong impression he had made hours ago, when he and his men appeared to save Nanaba. For a while, she stayed silent, still shaken by what she just had realised, and somewhat shushed by Erwin’s new appearance. But she was not a woman who liked silence._

__How do you know I help them?_

__I know from them. Did you?_

__There’s no need. I was lucky, nothing’s broken. Some rest will be enough._

__ Rest is the reason why you’re running alone in the wood, I guess._

_It left her speechless, with a little look of guilty child, and before she could even answer, he offered her his hand._

__ I’m Erwin Smith, the Dawnguard Commander. And I must confess you and your friend amazed me last night._

__ Oh, that... thank you, but without your help, we couldn’t have done anything, she said while shaking their hands. Her name’s Nanaba, and I’m Hanji Zoe, and I can’t thank you enough for having saving her!_

__ So you’ll thank Mike for this. He got her out from the mine, not me._

__ Won’t fail to do so, she said with a small smile._

_Then she asked him how they had come to Kynesgrove in the dead of night, and, as she had guessed, he explained her the Khajiit she and Nanaba had seen riding to the South had joined them to beg for help. The Dawnguard had set up a camp and made friends with the Khajiit troupe for a week before leaving the last morning. Seeing the dragon purchasing the Windhelm soldiers, Ri’saad had taken advantage of the distraction to run toward them._

__ So you ran to a place you know attacked by a dragon? Hanji asked with her wide-opened chocolate-eyes._

__ So did you and your friend, didn’t you? Erwin answered as if it was a normal thing._

__ Yeah, but... I thought the Dawnguard was a troupe of vampire hunters... Would your men be able to face a dragon?_

__ I could ask you the same thing._

__ We didn’t think of fighting the dragon, just of... helping the wounded people with what we knew... And you had men under your responsibility, you have a defined mission..._

__ Do you think we should have stayed?_

__ No! No, Nanaba would have died otherwise... But... Windhelm is only one hour away from here. Do you think they didn’t hear the dragon’s roar, or that they didn’t see the blaze’s light in the night?_

_Erwin did not answer yet, caught out because she was saying out loud what he was suspecting since his arrival._

__ Dragons are appalling everyone in Skyrim since their reappearance months ago... Leaders are afraid of losing more soldiers in wartime... If even Ulfric is turning a deaf ear when a dragon is attacking his estates, burning his so-called subjects, that means... that there’s not much people we can count on when it’s about those beasts..._

__ Greybeards don’t share this view._

_Hanji looked back at him and noticed the insisting eyes Erwin had on her._

__ Thinking of the Dragonborn?_

__ He must be on his way to the High Hrothgar by now._

_She looked away, called back to her mission._

__ May Talos hear you..._

_She did not know what to add, wanting to hide that she was searching for the Dovahkin, while Erwin had decided to learn more about her. So, crossed arms, innocently, he kept discussing._

__ So... can I ask you why you’re here?_

_Hanji hawked up phlegm._

__ Hmm, eh, searching for... ingredients... to... make ointments..._

__ Ingredients? While cursing?_

__ Yeah, I can be ill-mannered when I don’t find what I want..._

_She surely was cursing against herself for being such a bad liar and for digging herself in deeper. But in front of Erwin, she felt like it was unnecessary. First because he certainly suspected something for having followed her, and then because even though they did not know each other, she guessed that he did not mean her harm. In his place, she would have thought as he did._

__ And what’s this? He asked showing the stone circle they sat on._

_It remembered her what she just had discovered. Right away, he saw her face darken and she just stopped trying to lie._

__ I can’t talk about it. I’m sorry._

_Then she just avoided his eyes. Her changed tone made Erwin frown._

__ Because of the civil war, isn’t it?_

__ Yes. There’s a camp I must fear. And I don’t know if I can trust you._

__ I see..._

_It frustrated Erwin pretty well, but he did not show it. He did not want her to feel pressured. She inspired trust, kindness and cleverness. He already felt liking for her. But this was so disappointing to have confirmation that she hided something without knowing what it was and if he could help her. Hanji, for her part, did not really like to reject his curiosity. He was kind and polite, and the fact that he did not insist did not help her. But he could be an Imperial partisan. And even though all Imperials did not support the Thalmor, she did not want him to betray his camp’s leaders to her. It was better if he did not know anything._

_They stayed silent for a while. Then Erwin stood up and looked back at her with a smile._

__ Mike knows me better than I do. You’re brave and crafty, as we all saw this night, and I was hoping you and your friend could join the Dawnguard. You would have been good recruits, but since you’re already up to something, all I can do is to wish you good luck. Hanji Zoe. I’ll have my men learn your name. So anytime, anywhere in Skyrim, if you need help, every dawnguards you’ll meet will help you._

_Straight away, Hanji thought of the new information network it gave her to search the Dragonborn. She held her breath back, while gratitude invaded her eyes. He could not know how much he helped her just this way._

__ We don’t take part in the war. We can’t fight human’s warlike tendencies. The Dawnguard aims for vampire’s eradication. But this is because they are a pure danger for civilians. So are the dragons. If we can help you anyhow to fight them, we’re still filling our mission. As soon as Windhelm will take care of the injured persons, we’ll ride to the South, so if you want to join the High Hrothgar, we’d be glad to escort you._

_Then he got away from her, retracing his steps. She stayed stunned because of his mention of the High Hrothgar. How did he even know this was their destination? What had she said that had betrayed her? Or did Nanaba speak when she was healing the soldiers? At the time, this conclusion made her consider Erwin as a kind of oracle, and she just could not think straight._

_But then she understood. He thought that she, or Nanaba, was the Dragonborn. This was why he had asked her all his questions and showed the stone circle she had just found. Did he know it was a dragon’s grave? Did he understand that something had resuscitated the dragon who laid here?_

_Then, everything she saw what the incredible luck Erwin was for her. He had men all across Skyrim who could grow up Delphine’s network. He did not fight for the Imperials. He was just riding to the South. And he thinking she was the Dragonborn made every lie unless._

_She stood up and turned back. He was a few meters away._

__ Erwin!_

_He stopped and glanced back at her, and then she froze and stammered:_

__ Or, Commander, uh, I mean-_

__ Erwin’ll be enough, he answered smiling._

_He slowly went back to her while she finally confessed:_

__ I’m not the Dragonborn, if you think so. Sorry, it must be disappointing, but I’m just looking for him. I’m a Blade._

_His eyes lighted up._

__ A Blade? I thought they were dead..._

__ Most of them are, we’re three left, and I’m the only one in the field... Nanaba’s a Companion from Whiterun, and she knows us. We were riding to the High Hrothgar yesterday and stopped off this night when we heard the dragon’s roar._

__ It’s fantastic, the Blades still exist..._

__ I’m sorry, I’m gonna interrupt you. How many roaring did you hear this night?_

_Erwin suddenly noticed how tensed Hanji was. The amazement of her admission disappeared for the next of her words._

__ Only one, he answered._

__ Dragon’s power comes from their voices, their Thu’um. A dragon attacks by roaring. This one could not destruct the entire hamlet with only one roar._

_She moved aside and showed the stone circle._

__ This is a dragon’s grave. Look down. It’s empty. This one’s not here anymore._

_And while Erwin froze, Hanji did not stop her flood of revelations._

__ The soldier said the dragon could be grey. When they reappeared, I first thought that they never had extinct, that they had lived somewhere we didn’t know and that now they were coming back to Skyrim, like a migration of birds. All young dragons are brown. It takes thousands of years for a dragon to moult. If this one was grey, it was an old dragon. Someone is resuscitating the old dragons of Skyrim._

__ A necromancer?_

__ Except a Dragonborn, no human can manipulate a dragon’s soul. There’s only one name I can think about, and it seemed like we both heard his voice this night._

_Erwin stayed muted and dumbfounded for a while._

__ Are you talking about the roar? Is it a dragon who is giving life back to the others?_

__ His name’s Alduin. I’d bet my life he is the responsible._

_Everyone then knew the World Eater’s name. Because in the major part of apocalypse’s tales, in all the sacred books of all Skyrim’s religions, this dragon, Akatosh’s first son, was the one who brought the End with him. But he had to belong to the books. Just as every dragons that burned Nordic’s farms at this time._

_Erwin stayed shocked. He suddenly understood all Hanji’s cursing. And she added:_

__ So I accept your invitation for the High Hrothgar. I need to find the Dragonborn as soon as possible. If he shows himself understanding..._

_She finally told him all her suspicions about a link between the Thalmor and the Dragonborn, everything she had explained to Nanaba earlier. And while she was opening her doubts and fears to him, she just could not hide how tensed, how already tired and lost she was. She just spoke about the Dragonborn, but her eyes, her voice, her everything was just begging for help._

_And Erwin answered. When she finished, he took her hand, and held it strongly. This contact warmed her up. But not as much as his next words:_

__ I’ll help you finding the Dragonborn. We’ll succeed. Don’t worry._

_Now that Erwin is not longer living, now that I am the only Blade left, no one can figure what effect he could produce upon people. Moblit once told me that, if he had joined the Greybeards from his youth, and with a meditation and contemplation life, Erwin would have obtained a Thu’um worthy of the most powerful Greybeards, seeing how his voice could go into the deepest of our soul. When he used future tense, it was not a hypothesis or a project. It was a necessity, since he had told so._

_He was the help the young Hanji desperately needed. And he filled his role for her._

_The afternoon, when Windhelm’s men went to take the reins, the Dawnguard already was ready to leave for the High Hrothgar._

**Author's Note:**

> [Breaking the Fourth Wall :]
> 
> Don't expect me to finish it, this fanfiction must above all help me to improve my English. But I will do the most chapters I have thought up.


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